Becoming The Fifth Race Series
by dinkydow
Summary: Jack gets some help from the Asgard.


****

Title: "Downloaded Jack" Part 1 of the "Becoming The Fifth Race Series"

****

Author: dinkydow

****

Email: jd3031socket.net

****

Category: Missing scene, from "The Fifth Race", Angst, Drama

****

Rating: PG

****

Spoilers: "The Fifth Race"

****

Summary: Jack's POV after returning from the Asgard home planet.

****

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own any of them. Couldn't afford to if I did and don't have a mountain to hide them in. Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions do. I wrote this for entertainment and won't be making any money for it. (heavy sigh).

****

Author's Notes: So, whatcha think? A big thank you to Alice and my husband Jerry for betaing this for me. Yes, send feedback!

After stepping through the rippling blue surface of the Stargate event horizon, I looked around me in amazement. The Asgard had kept their promise to me and disabled the protective iris so I could return home safely. I ignored the sound of the Gate disengaging behind me as I walked slowly down the ramp. Once again, I found myself deep within the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain at Stargate Command. The familiar military-gray walls of the Gateroom and the expectant faces of two members of my team were waiting for me. I couldn't see Captain Samantha Carter, my 2IC, yet, but figured she must be in the control room doing her thing with the computers. Dr. Daniel Jackson, my team archeologist, had a look of wonderment on his face and moved to greet me. Teal'c, my Jaffa friend from Chulak, had one eyebrow raised which meant he was turning cartwheels, at least on the inside. They both looked relieved to see me. To tell you the truth, I felt the same way. The last time I had seen this place, I had thought it would be my last glimpse of a Base that had become my home.

"I'm back," I quipped.

"What happened?" asked Daniel. Of course, he would be the one to ask. After all, he had been my lifeline and my only means of communicating with my own world. More importantly, he had understood some of the agony and terror I was experiencing as the knowledge of the Ancients had slowly taken over the brain of yours truly, Colonel Jack O'Neill, USAF, Commander of SG-1.

"Do you still possess the knowledge of the Ancients?" That question came from Teal'c. Trust my Jaffa friend to get straight to the point. He's like that.

"Nope, don't remember a thing. But you know that meaning of life stuff?" Daniel nodded to show his comprehension of my question.

"I think we're going to be alright." I couldn't tell any of them just how I knew this, of course. The reason being that I hadn't quite been telling them the whole truth when I said I didn't remember a thing. In all honesty I remembered a whole lot more than I really wanted to. Foremost in my memory was the pain and frustration I had felt as the very essence of my being was slowly devoured and taken over by the data from the Ancients. My head had hurt so much that it felt like it was going to explode. As for the knowledge that had been downloaded into me, that was gone, at least for now.

My introspection was interrupted by the familiar voice of the Commanding officer of Stargate Command, Major General George Hammond. I noted that Carter had joined Teal'c and Daniel in the Gateroom. She gave me one of her incandescent smiles, the kind that makes my day. I smiled back.

"It's good to have you back, Colonel O'Neill. Get checked out at the Infirmary and then report for your debriefing. I have a feeling you have a lot to tell us," commented the General.

"Yes Sir. Oh by the way, Thor's buddies send their regards," I answered and snapped off a salute to him as he gazed down from the Control Room. I turned and started towards the Infirmary. I noted that my team, SG-1, were surrounding me. They had closed ranks around me, as if afraid I would vanish if they weren't there. That really wasn't surprising, considering everything that had transpired since my fateful encounter with the Ancients' headgear on planet P3R-272. They had been forced to watch as the co-worker they knew was slowly taken from them, leaving behind a pseudo-Jack that spouted incomprehensible gibberish and made weird doohickeys. Daniel had been the only one of my team who could even begin to understand what I was saying or what had been happening to me.

The next thing I knew, I was staring straight into a bright light. For a moment, I panicked, 'Crap, not that head-grabbing Ancient thingy again!' I squinted my eyes to lessen the glare and covered my eyes with my arm. I could hear the voice of Dr. Janet Fraiser, Chief Medical Officer of the SGC. Well, that explained the bright light,' I thought. 'Just Doc armed with her penlight from hell.' When I could see clearly again, I realized I was staring at the familiar ceiling tiles of the Infirmary.

"Crap! What happened?" I muttered blearily. The ceiling was replaced by Dr. Fraiser's concerned face.

"You passed out, Sir. In fact, if it weren't for Teal'c catching you, your head would have bounced off the cement floor of the Gateroom." Crap. I couldn't remember that happening. I guess my little adventure must have taken more out of me than I had thought. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept. Right now the idea of sleep seemed pretty attractive to me, but I knew I couldn't keep the General waiting. I struggled to sit up in the bed.

"Colonel O'Neill. You need to stay still. I haven't finished my exam yet," announced the Doctor sternly. To add further emphasis to her suggestion, she placed her hand firmly on my chest and pushed me back down. I squirmed under the pressure.

"Aw, for crying out loud. I feel fine. The General is waiting for me to report to him and we don't want to keep him waiting. Do we, Major?" trying for a bit of intimidation in order to escape her domain.

"Colonel O'Neill, the only reporting you will be doing for the time being will take place right here. The General ordered me to check you out, and by God, I intend to do just that. After all, you've just returned from an unknown destination and it's my job to give you a thorough examination. The General knows this will take some time and is already aware of the situation. In fact, he was there when you hit the floor, so lie still while my nurse gets some blood samples."

"But Doc.."

"Sir, if you don't cooperate, I'll get the samples and my needles are much bigger than the ones my nurses use." I settled back on the bed. I knew when she had me beat. Dr. Fraiser wasn't a big person, but she ruled her corner of SGC like a tyrant and struck fear in the hearts of everyone, especially me. I nodded wearily and stuck out my arm for the waiting nurse, using my free arm to cover my eyes once more.

"Oww!" I yelped as the needle struck home. The nurse just smiled and continued filling the vials. I spared a sideways glance, and noticed that she had already filled two tubes and had attached a third. By now I had noticed that my uniform had been replaced by hospital scrubs at some point. 'Hmm, the Doc must have ordered the switch while I was out for the count,' I thought. I realized I must have really been out of it if being stripped out of my uniform by a bunch of female nurses hadn't woke me up.

"What're you trying to do, drain me dry? At the rate you bloodsuckers are going, I won't have any left. And where did you put my clothes? I hope you didn't cut my boots off again because I so don't want to break in another pair. I hate blisters, you know," I grumbled. I grimaced as the Doctor turned her eagle eye towards me.

"Are you going to cooperate, or do I need to take over?" Jerking my eyes away from her steely gaze, I winced. I so did not want to get the Doc pissed off at me. The size of her needles were legendary and my butt did not make the ideal pin cushion.

"Sorry, Doc, I guess I'm just tired. It's been a busy couple of days for me, you know."

"All the more reason for me to check you out thoroughly, Colonel. I'm just looking out for you. By the way, Sir, when was the last time you ate anything?"

"Umm, I don't remember Doc. The Asgard offered to throw me a party, but I turned them down. And as for sleep…"

"I thought so, Sir. After the tests are over, I am prescribing a stay in my Infirmary for overnight observation. By then your test results should be in and I'll know if you're OK. So you might as well relax and get some rest while you can. I'll send someone down to the Commissary to get you something to eat. Your blood sugar level is probably pretty low at this point." I shrugged my shoulders to indicate that I would go along with her orders, for now.

I must have drifted off to sleep again, because the next thing I was aware of was distant voices talking softly. It seemed like too much effort to open my eyes, so I just laid there, listening. By concentrating, I found I recognized the voices, and they seemed to be getting easier to understand. The General's gruff voice was interspersed with comments from Janet. I decided to open my eyes, figuring my boss was there to hear my report. Dim lighting greeted me and I realized some time must have passed. I had been a resident of the Infirmary often enough to know that the lights were dimmed during the night shift.

"How can a guy get any sleep around here with all this racket, Sir?" I groused good naturedly.

"I'm glad to see you're finally awake, Colonel." General Hammond smiled at me as he watched Dr. Fraiser aim her penlight towards my eyes. I winced and slammed my eyes shut to avoid the sudden pain that lanced through my brain.

"I see your eyes are still very photosensitive," murmured the Dr. as she put the light back in her pocket and began taking my vitals. "Pulse is strong, and no sign of any fever. How bad is the headache, Colonel?"

"Not bad," I muttered.

"How bad is it, Sir, on a scale from one to ten?" she asked.

"Umm, a five?" Squinting my eyes seemed to help the pain a little, but I could see she didn't like my answer. She looked worried.

"Sir, I can give you something for the pain." With I grimace, I slowly nodded. The Doctor seemed relieved at my agreement and quickly administered a shot into the IV that was sticking out of my arm. Immediately, I felt the warmth of the drug spread though my body, leaving relaxed muscles in it's wake. The pounding in my head gradually lessened, and I expelled sigh of relief.

"While you were napping, I started an IV as you were severely dehydrated as well as suffering from low blood sugar," continued Dr. Fraiser. "You'll be glad to know that you are definitely you, and your MRI showed no abnormalities. I must have looked puzzled, so she clarified her statement.

"The DNA sample showed a perfect match, Sir. We had to make sure they returned you in good condition, Colonel. And according to the MRI, your brain functions are back to normal."

"Do you feel up to answering some questions for me, Colonel?" asked the General. I looked at him, surprised to hear to hear the anxiety evident in his voice. I didn't look that bad off, did I?

"Yes Sir, where do you want me to start?" The General walked to the side of my bed and sat down before replying.

"How about telling me what was on the other side of that wormhole you went through? You know, we went sure if we would be able to get you back, Jack."

"I wasn't sure that I would get back either, Sir. The man that left here through that Stargate wasn't really me anymore. It was like I had someone else sharing my head with me. Hell, I couldn't control any part of my body and couldn't communicate with any of you, except for Daniel. You know, he was right when he told you I was already gone. Thanks, by the way, for letting me go, Sir. I really don't think I would still be alive if you hadn't."

"Why else do you think I let you go, Colonel? That was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I honestly didn't know if I would ever see you again." I gave him a grateful look before continuing.

"But, the good news, Sir, is that I got to visit Thor's home planet. After one hell of a ride on the Stargate Express, I ended up on the Asgard home planet of Othalla. Evidently, it's not every day that someone rolls down the steps from their Stargate so I got the attention of several of Thor's Asgard pals right away. One of them had this cool thingy on his palm that he used to help me out. They got a little condescending after that, telling me our brains couldn't handle all that stuff." I took a deep breath as I remembered tumbling down the steps from the Stargate and coming face to face with those skinny gray guys. The General nodded to indicate he understood.

Both Janet and Hammond seemed pretty engrossed in my story. I'll have to admit, it was a doozy. It wasn't every day that a human being was able to visit a planet in another galaxy. However, I also knew that there were some things that I couldn't tell anyone, not if I valued my freedom. In fact, I was surprised that the NID hadn't sent Colonel Maybourne over to pick me up by now. I decided to take the bull by the horns and ask about those slime balls.

"By the way General, have those NID goons been nosing around yet? I would so not like to spend the rest of my Air Force career as a lab rat at Area 51."

"That depends on what I tell them, Jack."

"Ah."

"I've been able to stall them for now, but you know as well as I do that they are notoriously persistent when they get wind of something that could be used as a weapon. And Colonel, when they heard about all that stuff you were doing, they got VERY interested in you. Is that info from the Ancients gone now, like you said in the Gateroom?" Now I was glad that I had asked. At least now I knew what I was up against.

"General, all that Ancients crap is gone now. It's zip, no more, nada, taken a hike, and shuffled off to Buffalo. All you got now is just one very tired and worn out bird Colonel who would love to do nothing more complicated than sit down in front of the TV with a beer and watch a hockey game." Hammond let out a relieved sigh and Dr. Fraiser actually smiled as she turned to the General.

"General, the Colonel really needs to get some rest now. He's been through quite an ordeal and his body needs sleep to help him heal. I already sent his team to bed because they were practically walking in their sleep. I realize you need this information, but can't he finish with the debriefing tomorrow?" I could feel my eyelids getting heavier and knew I wouldn't be able to keep them open for much longer. Crap, the Doc could read me like a book. My CO must have noticed too, because he agreed.

"Very well, we'll finish the debriefing later, Colonel. In the meantime, you get some rest. Keep me informed on his condition, Doctor." With that, he walked out of the Infirmary.

I must have fallen asleep again, because suddenly I was back on Othalla listening to the Asgard guys talk to me. One of them raised his hand and I could see that his palm was all glowy. I watched as a shimmering light formed in front of my eyes and traveled quickly to end at the glowing thing in his raised palm.

It was then that I realized what had really happened back there. Thor's buddy hadn't used that palm thingy to suck that stuff from my head. Thanks to the enhancements gained from that download, my brain had reached out to him and manipulated his palm device to help me to adapt to all that information. My brain had used that palm thingy to transform all that knowledge into something that wouldn't end up killing me. The knowledge of the Ancients was all still there locked away in a corner of my mind, just waiting for the right time to come out. Somehow, I also knew that this information would be made available to me on a "need to know" basis.

Now their cryptic statement of "You have already taken the first steps towards becoming the fifth race," made sense. The Asgard hadn't been talking about the human race as a whole. They had been talking about me. No wonder they had seemed surprised. Hell, I was surprised too! After all, that Alliance IS a pretty heady group.

Armed with this insight, I opened my eyes. I realized I needed to do some thinking about this new and improved version of the one and only Jack O'Neill, especially where the NID and the snakeheads were concerned. After all, Momma O'Neill didn't raise no fool.

Continuing to play the dumb soldier would be harder now, but I felt like I already had the act down pretty good. After all, not even Daniel and Carter knew about my college degrees or the fact that I was fluent in five languages. No, make that six now. And if I had anything to say about it, they certainly weren't going to find out about it any time soon.

I resolved right then and there that I wouldn't tell anyone just how much I still remembered from my encounter with that crazy headgear. Not the General, not my team, not anyone. A part of me felt badly about withholding this from the General, but if I told him about what was still tucked away in a little corner of my brain, he would be put in the position of having to report it to his superiors. From there, it was just a short step to a one way ticket to the NID labs in Area 51 for yours truly. Not to mention what the snake heads would do to get their slimy hands on all that Intel. Becoming one of their "guests" was so not on my list of fun things to do. Their brand of hospitality definitely left a lot to be desired and their over-the top décor really sucked. No, this definitely was a secret that I would have to keep to myself. I sighed as I as I drifted off into sleep again. It was going to be alright, I just knew it.

The End.

****

Title: "Diplomatic Jack" Part 2 of the "Becoming The Fifth Race" Series

Author: dinkydow

Email: jd3031socket.net

Category: Missing Scene for "Fair Game" from Jack's point of view, Drama, Humor, Sequel to "Downloaded Jack".

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Mainly from **"**Fair Game", mentions from "Thor's Chariot," "The Fifth Race," "Into The Fire,"

Warnings: Jack gets mad and uses some dirty words, but nothing you wouldn't hear on the show. Minor Jack whumping but it's mainly mental.

Summary: Jack gets some help from Thor to prepare him for the Summit. It will help if you read Part 1.

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own any of them. Couldn't afford to if I did and don't have a mountain to hide them in. Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions do. I wrote this for entertainment and won't be making any money for it. (heavy sigh).

Author's Notes: Many thanks to Alice and Jerry for their suggestions and for being my betas for this thing. Yes, I love to hear feedback.

Incandescent blinding light filled my senses and only increased the feeling of disorientation I felt. When I could see again, I noted that I was back in the Gateroom of Stargate Command, deep inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. 'At least Thor kept his promise,' I thought to myself. I had just been beamed back from the Asgard spaceship that was currently in orbit around my home planet of Earth. Looking around me, I noted that my CO, Major General George Hammond was standing in front of me with a look of incredulous surprise on his face. In fact, it looked like his jaw had hit the cement floor a couple of times. I snapped off a perfect salute and held it as I spoke.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill reporting, Sir. Did ya miss me?" I asked with a smile. I dropped my hand back down to my side after receiving the General's answering salute. Standing behind him was the rest of my team: Major Samantha Carter my 2IC, Dr. Daniel Jackson my team archeologist, and Teal'c my team alien. I deduced that since both Hammond and Carter were still wearing their Class A's, I must not have been gone long. I thought back to the reason we had all been dressed in our best. God knows it took a very special occasion for me to wear my dress uniform considering that those stiff shirt collars and the shiny low quarters were such a pain to wear.

The "special occasion" had been in honor of Secretary of Defense Simms making a speech to the personnel assigned to SGC. We were also celebrating the promotion of my 2IC from Captain to Major. As a mater of fact, I had been standing behind the podium set within the circle of the Stargate. I had just started my speech congratulating her on a well-deserved promotion, when unexpectedly I had been beamed up to join Thor on his spaceship. While there, the alien informed me of the need to start negotiations with the Goa'uld System Lords in order to stop their impending invasion. It seems we pissed them off big time when I killed off that snaky bitch, Hathor, after she put a snake in my head. Not that she didn't have it coming to her. Note to self: never, ever let anyone put a snake in my head again!

"Would you mind telling me just where the hell you've been for the past hour, Colonel?" demanded General Hammond.

Sir, I would love to fill you in, but could we do it someplace more private?" I added. "It's kind of complicated." The General's eyebrows started crawling higher on his forehead as he continued to glare at me. You'd think I had done a disappearing act on purpose. By now, Secretary of Defense Simms had joined us.

"Good morning, Mr. Secretary. It's good to see you again," I stated.

"We're going to start Colonel O'Neill's debriefing in the Briefing Room. Would you like to join us?"

"Of course, General. I wouldn't dream of missing it. The President is waiting to hear an explanation for this latest bit of excitement you've had here. Shall we go?"

"Colonel, let's head for the Briefing Room then. You can get checked out by the Doc later." He turned to face the rest of my team, and continued.

"I want the rest of you to sit in on this too. I reckon this could get interesting." I stepped up beside my CO as the rest of SG-1 fell in behind us. I waited to begin my explanation until we had left the Gateroom. The General had unknowingly just made the understatement of the year when he characterized my news as being "interesting". That was like calling the Grand Canyon a ditch. Great! Just peachy! I waited until the blast doors had closed before saying anything.

"Mr. Secretary. The President will need to know about this. I just returned from a meeting with the Asgard. Sir, Thor says the System Lords now see us as a threat and are planning to launch an attack against Earth soon. It seems we pissed them off after I threw Hathor in the deepfreeze. The Asgard want to help us out and sent Thor to ask our permission to set up a Summit between us and the Snakes. He seems to think Earth could be included in the Protected Planets Treaty. I told Thor I would rather have a fleet of his big honking spaceships than trust the Snakes, but he said negotiating the Treaty was our only option."

"General Hammond, I think I have an important phone call to make. Can I use your office?" asked Sims. I had to give Sims credit, he could certainly think on his feet.

"Of, course, Sir," assured Hammond. You remember where my office is, don't you? Use the red phone with the direct line to the White House." Simms nodded and started up the stairs ahead of us. He seemed to be in a hurry and took the steps two at a time. I didn't blame him. I would be running too if the Commander In Chief was waiting for an answer from me.

"It's good to see you back, Jack," commented Daniel.

"Colonel, we were worried about you," added Carter.

"As was I, Colonel O'Neill," stated Teal'c stoically.

"It's good to BE back, kids," I answered. By the way, how is the Secretary of Defense dealing with my "sudden departure"? I hope you realize that wasn't my idea, Sir."

"I didn't think it was, Colonel. As for Secretary Simms, I filled him in on as much as I knew, which wasn't a whole lot. Daniel recognized the flash of light as belonging to the Asgard transporter he saw on Cimmaria. Was he right, Jack?"

"Yes, Sir. Thor beamed me up to his ship for an emergency meeting of his own. I think I was even more surprised by it all than you were. One minute, I was starting my speech and the next I was staring down at Earth from an orbiting spaceship. Thor told me our satellites and telescopes couldn't see him, by the way. He says the Snakes plan to send hundreds of ships to attack our world. We wouldn't stand a chance against that kind of firepower, Sir." By this time, we had reached the Control Room. A young Airman ran down the stairs, skidded to a halt and saluted. After Hammond acknowledged him, he dropped his arm and handed a folded sheet of paper to my CO.

"General Hammond, Sir. Secretary of Defense Simms sent me to find you with this note." The General opened it up and perused its contests quickly. Then he turned to me with a question.

"Can we trust the Asgard, Colonel?" Hammond asked.

"I do, Sir. And, I believe them when they say this is our only option. They seem to like us and have gone out of their way to help us out in the past. Personally, I think we should do this," I added. General Hammond wrote my answers down on the note and handed it back to the Airman.

"Get this back to Secretary Simms ASAP," he ordered.

"Yes, Sir!" reported the Airman before doing an about face and racing back up the metal steps. I sighed, remembering a time when I had the energy and the knees to take the stairs like that. We resumed climbing the steps to the Briefing Room.

"What do the System Lords have to say about this Summit, Colonel?" asked the General softly.

"Thor says they have agreed to negotiate with us, Sir. But Thor needs our permission to start making the arrangements."

"Why would the Goa'uld agree to this negotiations?" queried the General as we continued climbing.

"The Goa'uld fear the Asgard," answered Teal'c in an even voice. It made sense that he would know, as he had the most experience with aliens. Especially considering he was one himself. In fact, until we met up about three years ago, he was First Prime of Apophis, one of the Head Snakes in Goa'uld-town. After meeting us, Teal'c had made the decision to join us in fighting the Snakes in the hopes he could free his own people.

We had watched Apophis die at least twice now, so I sincerely hoped he would stay dead this time. It had been my experience that those slimy Snakeheads had a nasty habit of jumping into the nearest sarcophagus and being revived whenever we thought we had killed one of them. This definitely made it harder to keep a scorecard on who was dead or alive. By this time, we had reached our goal, and were seating ourselves around the table in the Briefing Room. The General sat in a chair near the head of the table, leaving his usual seat open for Sims.

"Plus, I assume the Asgard would offer the Goa'uld something in return. I mean, that's generally the way negotiations work," added Daniel as he scooted his chair up to the conference table. He was seated next to the General with Teal'c sitting next to him. Carter and I had taken seats on the opposite side of the table.

"Well, what if the Summit fails?" asked Hammond. My face twisted in a grimace before I answered.

"Thor said that was pretty much the only option he could offer. If it fails…total annihilation." Thor had made it pretty clear to me about just how high the stakes were. Quite frankly, it scared the crap out of me! Just watching the Earth revolve in space below me as I stood on the Asgard ship had reinforced how easily my world could be destroyed.

"The President is wondering how confident we are in trusting the Asgard," reminded the General with a sigh. He knew how high the stakes were too.

"The Tok'ra trust them," added Carter helpfully. She didn't have to add why she trusted them. Having a father who had recently joined the ranks of the Goa'uld resistance explained that well enough. Thanks to his Tok'ra snake Sel'mac, her Dad hadn't died of cancer.

"They helped Jack out when he got the Ancients' language downloaded into his brain," added Jackson. He was referring to my previous visit to the Asgard home world. I had managed to rig the Stargate with a gizmo in order to dial up their address after inadvertently having all the data from a very advanced race called the Ancients incorporated into the brain of yours truly. Now, I'm not against learning new things, but it had been pretty scary when I realized that all this stuff from the Ancients was taking over my brain and quite literally killing me.

"You gotta love them for that," I commented with a smirk. I knew just how much I owed the Asgard.

What the others didn't' realize, was that the information from the Ancients had not been removed while I was a guest on their planet. All that advanced data was still there, locked away in a corner of my brain. So far, I hadn't been able to access any of it, but that was OK with me.

I hadn't told anyone about my little treasure trove of info because I figured I had a duty to protect both the information and myself. I knew if I reported what had happened to the General, he would be duty-bound to report it to his superiors. And I so did not want to spend the rest of my Air Force career being hunted down by the Snake Heads and the goon squads from NID. Having my brain dissected by a bunch of scientist geeks just wasn't on my list of top ten fun things to do. Just stepping through that Stargate was dangerous enough. I felt no need to add any more excitement to my life.

"But we know very little about the politics out there. How do we know the Asgard truly have our best interests at heart?" continued the Commander of SGC.

"Well, I suppose we don't. But if they have any other agenda in mind…" I was interrupted by a flash of light as Thor, the Asgard in question, abruptly appeared at the table. 'Well, speak of the devil,' I thought.

"Colonel, do we need security?" asked the General.

"No, I'll vouch for him, Sir." I smiled before standing up to introduce the others to the skinny gray guy.

"Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, you remember Thor? Uh, Thor, this is Teal'c and Major General George Hammond. He's the leader of our facility here." Thor got right to the point, as usual.

"The System Lords have agreed to negotiate."

"That's good news," I replied.

"They will arrive in four days."

"Here?" I blurted.

"It is customary for such negations to take place on the planet in question. Three representatives from the System Lords will arrive by Stargate." Thor turned to look directly at me and continued.

"You must be prepared to speak on behalf of all the inhabitants of Earth." 'Aww, for crying out loud!' I thought to myself. He couldn't be thinking what I thought he was thinking. Could he? Crap!

"Uh, well, maybe not me personally…" I felt like turning around to see who else that little gray guy could possibly be looking at. Thor just kept staring at me as if to emphasize his point and I realized with a sinking heart that no one was standing behind me.

"We have chosen you, O'Neill, to represent your planet at the proceedings." Double crap!

"Alright, now see, that could be a mistake. You see, Dr. Jackson, here, is an extremely educated and articulate man, very well-versed in all the languages," I added desperately, pointing a finger at Danny-Boy, just in case Thor had forgotten who he was. I darted a desperate plea to my Commander. 'Help me out here, Sir!' I thought frantically.

"You have led your people into the galaxy through the Stargate. You are our choice, O'Neill. Further instructions to aid you in your preparation will follow." With that terse statement, Thor disappeared with the customary flash of light leaving me hanging in the wind. The room was filled with stunned silence at the unexpected turn of events. Everybody's eyes were riveted on me and right about then I felt like a bug under a microscope. I smiled nervously while swiveling in place to face my Commander.

"Well, there you go." What else could I say? At that moment my very most fervent wish was that I could have beamed up to Thor's ship with him. I waited a moment and blinked, hoping I would get my wish. Nope, I was still at the SGC with everyone looking at me. For crying out loud, just how the hell, was I supposed to explain this one?

"Would everyone who thinks this is an absolutely insane idea, please raise their hand?" I asked. Everyone just kept gawking at me. I think they were just as stunned by Thor's announcement as I was. My mind felt like it was racing in neutral at a gazillion miles an hour. 'OH. MY. GOD!' I thought.

Everyone knew I sucked at being a diplomat, didn't they? Daniel handled all the meet and greet stuff. He was even good at it and seemed to like it. My style of diplomacy usually involved shooting off my mouth, my MP-5, or blowing things up using large quantities of C-4. Not necessarily in that order. I thought Thor understood that after our earlier conversation.

I had made it pretty clear to him that I preferred a fleet of his honking big spaceships to trying the negotiating thing with the Snakes. I just didn't trust those snaky-ass bastards. Hell, I didn't trust those guys before getting a snake put in my head. I trusted them even less now.

So now Thor was trying to make a diplomat out of me. No pressure there, right O'Neill? Just the fate of my world and all the people on it, that's all. Not to mention that I really didn't want all my friends turned into Snake Heads or crispy critters. The sound of the General's voice reminded me that I was still sitting in the Briefing Room.

"I'll be giving you all your individual assignments as we get more details. I reckon I don't have to tell you how important this is. Be careful people. Dismissed." Everyone stood as the General rose to return to his office. I'm sure he had plenty to tell Secretary Simms.

"Uh, Sir. Permission to speak to you in your office?" I asked, trying not to grovel too noticeably. My CO nodded his agreement and I followed him into his inner sanctum. The Secretary of Defense was just hanging up the red phone and stood up when we walked in. General Hammond started filling Simms in on the extra details of Thor's visit right away. I zoned out a little until I heard him get to the part where that short, naked, skinny-assed, gray alien chooses me as the representative for Earth and then beams back to his ship, leaving me holding the bag, so to speak.

"Sirs, I told Thor, and now I'll tell you. Choosing me to represent Earth would be a huge honkin' mistake! I'm a soldier, not a diplomat. My specialty is killing people and blowing things up. I'm just no good at making nice with people. I just know I'll screw it up! Please, Sirs, can't you ask the President to get someone else to do it?" I pleaded. I watched as the two men in front of me exchanged glances and saw Simms shake his head.

"Colonel O'Neill, I know you don't like doing this, but Thor was pretty adamant about you being their choice. I really don't think the President would be able to change that." The General looked me in the eye and sighed.

"Think of it this way, Jack. You of all people know just what is at stake here. Would you honestly trust anyone who hadn't walked through the Stargate, fought and then defeated the Goa'uld on their own turf to do this right? You know first hand how it feels to be forced to become a host. You've been witness to their worst atrocities. Do you really want to trust a desk-jockey to represent Earth with a Treaty as important as this?" I collapsed bonelessly into the chair behind me. When he put it that way, I had to agree that Hammond was right. I didn't have to like it, and I sure as hell didn't. But I couldn't argue with that logic.

"I see what you mean, Sir. Is this what they meant in the part of my job description that reads 'and other duties as assigned'?" I asked sheepishly.

I didn't get to hear my CO's answer because I was suddenly surrounded by a blinding flash of light, again. When I could see again, I found myself back on board Thor's ship. Once again I was treated to the breath-taking view of the planet of my birth. It looked like a tiny round sphere full of blue water, white clouds and green earth set against a background of black velvet. My home planet looked so fragile and vulnerable as I looked down on it from outer space. I pulled my eyes away from the spectacular view to look at the room I was in. 'Wow, déjà vu! Wasn't I just up here? I was really racking up the frequent flyer miles. I wonder if I would get a free trip to Othalla if I racked up enough points?' I thought irreverently.

"Thor. Buddy! You rang?" I called out. Mr. short, gray, and naked appeared with his customary flash of light.

"O'Neill, I have been in contact with the System Lords and have more information about the negotiations. I have also prepared a copy of the "Protected Planets Treaty" for your use. He pointed and a big honking book appeared on a table in front of me. It looked like it was jam packed full of long words that only lawyers could pronounce, let alone interpret. Thor wasn't through yet.

"It is important that you study this document so that you may better represent Earth in the up-coming negotiations."

"Now, see, Thor. I'm glad you brought that up. I really am so not the right guy to do this. I'm just not a 'let's just talk this over' kind of guy. See?" I heard a sigh from the alien that sounded of frustration, so decided to change my tactics.

"OK. You and I both know I have all this stuff from the Ancients locked up in my head, but I just can't get to it. Right? But, it doesn't count if I can't use it. Plus, it really isn't a good idea if anyone finds out about that stuff. Right now, just about everybody buys my "dumb as a stump" act and I would just as soon keep it that way. Becoming a lab rat for some geek scientist is not a career path I really want to follow, pal. And you can bet your skinny gray ass that both the snakes and some of my own people would jump at the chance to turn MY ass into a lab experiment if they found out about what I have in my head. Don't blow my cover for me, I'm begging ya, Thor." By this time I was squatting down so I could talk to him eye to eye, man to umm, alien.

In answer, Thor raised his hand to display a glowing thingy in his palm. It was the same kind of device the Asgard had used on me before, back on Othalla. As I locked my eyes on it, I became aware of a steadily growing pressure inside my head, as if it were about to explode. The pressure was so intense that it sat me back on my heels. The pressure suddenly spiked into pain as, once again, a beam of pure white light traveled from my forehead to end at Thor's glowing palm. When the light stopped, so did the pain and I crumpled on my side to the floor.

Within seconds, I was able to push myself back up to my knees. Thor was staring at me, obviously awaiting my reaction. I blinked my eyes, searching my thoughts and memories for any noticeable changes. The pain, thankfully was gone. In it's place was a sort of dull ache, as if my brain had been stretched beyond it's normal limits. The blocked off part of my mind that had been closed to me earlier was still there. However, I found I knew things now that I hadn't known before. For instance, I knew every word, every wherefore, and amendment of the "Treaty of Protected Planets". Not only that, I understood it too. Now, that was definitely good Intel to have. Sweet.

"Thanks for the help, Thor. I'm not sure what just happened here, but have a feeling I will figure it out later." 'Just like last time,' I thought to myself. "Maybe I can carry this off after all, buddy."

"You are quite welcome, O'Neill. We have been monitoring your progress ever since you first came through our Stargate. Our confidence in your abilities has not been disappointed so far. I know you will represent your planet well at the upcoming Summit." I must have looked shocked, as Thor hastened to reassure me.

"Our surveillance of you has been non-obtrusive and we have taken great care in not interfering in the natural progression of your life."

"Sort of like the Prime Directive, huh," I muttered half to myself. Noting Thor's puzzled look, I just shrugged.

"I think I understand what you're trying to say. You just watching me to see how I do on my own. Right?" Sweet, now I had my very own guardian angel. Maybe he could keep me out of trouble. NOT!

"Yes, O'Neill. You continue to puzzle us. You should not have been able to survive your initial contact with the knowledge from the Ancients, let alone manufacture the means to travel to our world for help."

"What can I say, pal? It's nice to know I can still keep you guys on your toes. But, making me Earth's Representative for this Summit is still a pretty heavy responsibility to hang around my neck. Isn't it? You've just placed the fate of every single fricking person on my planet squarely in my lap! Don't you think I have the right to feel just a little scared and pissed off about that? Come on, be fair about it!"

"O'Neill, there is nothing fair about this. The Goa'uld have never been fair in their dealings with anyone. I know you already understand this, just as I know that you realize that this Summit is not just a game of words. The fate of the Tau'ri do indeed rest in your hands, O'Neill. With you as the Earth Representative, your race will not be easy prey for the Goa'uld. With your enhanced abilities, your people will not be fair game for them." With that, Thor, drew my attention back to the copy of the "Protected Planets Treaty", volumes one through infinity. Damn, that thing was huge!

"In order to better prepare yourself and your people for the coming negotiations, I included all rules and regulations governing these Summits. I have also included the names of the three System Lords who will be representing the interests of the Goa'uld. I will contact you later with any other information as needed." Then he moved towards a console, with that peculiar shuffle-glide of his, and moved a shell around its surface. That must have triggered the transporter thingy, because then I was surrounded by a flash of light.

When I could see again, I found I was standing in the Briefing Room. I was glad that Thor had such good aim with that transporter thingy because I would certainly hate to materialize inside a chair or desk. The General must have seen me, because I heard him yell for security. Immediately the door burst open and a group of SF's ran into the room. Their weapons were aimed at me, so I looked at my CO.

"Sir, I'm crushed. Aren't you glad to see me?" General Hammond shot me a glare, so I decided now would be a good time to brush up on my diplomatic skills.

"Sorry, Sir. Thor and I just had another chat and he has a bunch of new information for us about the Summit." I saw that I was holding the Protected Planets Treaty book and laid it on the conference table. It wasn't until I almost lost my balance that I realized my headache was back with a vengeance and I was feeling dizzy. I grabbed a chair and sank down into it gratefully. By pinching the bridge of my nose, I was hoping to ease the pain I felt. It wasn't working.

"Stand down, men. I'll handle it from here," ordered the General. "Colonel, are you alright?"

"Just feeling a little dizzy, Sir," I muttered, hoping he would believe the lie. God knows we had a hell of a lot to do before the Snakes arrived. I heard him speaking on the phone.

"This is Hammond. Get me Dr. Fraiser. Doc? I have a bird colonel here who needs his post-mission exam ASAP. He's been off world twice now, and hasn't been to see you yet." He paused, no doubt listening to his Chief Medial Officer. "Yes, he's with me right now. He just collapsed here in the Briefing Room and is complaining of feeling dizzy. Good, we'll be expecting you." With that, he hung up the phone and grinned evilly at me.

"Doc Fraiser says she's holding a bed for you, Jack and is on her way down to see you. Will you go willingly or do I have to order her to sedate you?"

"But Sir, it was just a little dizzy spell. I have so much to do to get ready for the Snake-Fest and only have four days to get it done in. Please, Sir, I really need to get busy on this and I don't want to waste my time laying around in the Infirmary. We can't afford for me to screw up here. There's just too much at stake."

I raised pleading eyes to look at him, but then had to wince as the pain in my head chose that moment to spike again. Damn, those guys inside my head with the jackhammers just wouldn't take a break. With a groan, I cupped my face wearily in my hands and rubbed my eyes. That didn't help either. Crap.

"Colonel, which one will it be? Will you walk over there on your own two feet or ride there flat on your back with a needle sticking out of your ass?" Putting it that way put a whole different perspective on my choices.

"When you put it that way, I have to say that I would much rather walk there, Sir. You know how I feel about those god damned needles that Fraiser uses." I could hear a commotion at the door, and turned my head towards the noise. I squinted my eyes to minimize the glare from the suddenly too bright overhead lights. Yep, it was the evil Princess of Pain fresh from her den of torture, also known as Dr. Janet Fraiser, CMO of the SGC Infirmary. Speak of the devil!

"Did I just hear someone taking my name in vain, Sirs?" No doubt about it. The diminutive Doctor and her minions had arrived. 'How could such a tiny woman inspire such fear?' I asked myself. 'By sticking her huge honking needles in my sorry ass repeatedly, that's how,' I answered just as quickly.

"Hi Doc, long time, no see. Miss me?" I slouched back in the chair, hoping to fake an air of pain-free nonchalance that I didn't feel. The guys banging on my head weren't letting up, and my vision was beginning to go gray around the edges. I attempted a weak smile and knew it wasn't very convincing.

"Colonel, how are you feeling?" I felt a warm hand on my forehead. When had it gotten so cold in here? I thought fuzzily.

"Peachy. Just peachy, Doc," I muttered.

"Well, you don't look so good, Colonel." The pain in my head abruptly reached an all time high as bright light seared my eyeballs.

"Dammit, Doc. What the hell are you trying to do, kill me? Keep that damned light out of my eyes!" I slammed my eyes shut and struggled to my feet. At least, that was my intention. I didn't make it out of the chair, though. Instead, I concentrated on not puking all over the Doc and General Hammond. I swallowed rapidly to keep the contents of my stomach from making a mess of the General's uniform. Dimly I knew he was bending over me. Now, that just wasn't a good place to be right now, General. Trust me on this. Vomit does not go well with Class A's.

"Colonel, talk to me."

"What do you want, Doc?" I groaned blearily.

"Sir, you know the drill. How bad is the pain, on a scale of one to ten?"

"It was a three until you stuck that damned light in my face," I grumbled.

"And now, Sir?"

"Now, it's a four, no wait, make that a five. Just give me a minute, Doc, I'll be OK."

"I don't think so, son," stated my CO firmly. Then I heard him talk to Fraiser. Funny how I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.

"Dr. Fraiser, you said you had a bed reserved for him? I think now would be a good time to get him checked out."

"Sir, I couldn't agree with you more. Colonel, your chariot awaits." Then everything went black.

I was aware of sound first. I could make out a beeping noise and murmuring voices in the background. With some effort, I was able to identify the beeping as belonging to a heart monitor which meant I was back in the Infirmary. No surprises there. I recognized the voices as belonging to the members of my team. I managed to pry my eyes open. Immediately, I slammed them shut again when the lights seared into my brain. I heard someone moan. Wimp!

"Sorry Colonel. Is that better?" That had to be Carter. "Daniel, go get Janet. Tell her the Colonel's awake." I risked opening my eyes again, and found the dimmer lights more bearable.

"Carter?"

"Yes, Sir."

What happened?" By now, I could hear the tapping of heels on the tile floor heralding the approach of Doc Fraiser.

"You passed out, Colonel.," said the Dr. I watched as she checked the monitor readout. I tensed, expecting her to hit me with her penlight again and felt immense relief when she didn't.

"I dimmed the light when the Colonel first woke up, Janet. It seemed to hurt his eyes," added Major Carter helpfully.

"Thanks Carter, I owe you one," I mumbled. "How long?" I risked turning my head to look at my audience. I could see that Carter and Daniel were sitting next to my bed. and Teal'c was standing behind them. Somehow, I wasn't surprised that they were all there. That's just something we do for each other. God knows I had done the same for them in the past. The Doc was standing on the other side of my bed.

"You've been out for three hours, Sir. According to my test results, your were suffering from low blood sugar, among other things. When was the last time you ate or slept?"

"It depends, Doc. What day is it?"

"It is Tuesday, Colonel O'Neill. May I inquire as to the state of your health?" asked my Jaffa friend.

"I'm feeling better now, Teal'c. Thanks for asking, my friend." I sent him a smile. The Jaffa, merely quirked an eyebrow and bowed slightly.

"Then, I shall take my leave. I shall be in my quarters as I am in need of additional kel-no-reem." After bowing his head in my direction, he walked out of the room.

I did some rapid figuring in my head. Teal'c had said it was Tuesday. That meant Carter's promotion ceremony had been yesterday morning. Thinking back, I could remember having slept a couple of hours Sunday night in my quarters here on Base. Because I had been polishing up my speech, I hadn't gone home Sunday night. This was the same speech that I never got to deliver thanks to the unexpected beam-up by my little gray pal, Thor. I had eaten a sandwich at my desk while working on the speech on Sunday but hadn't had time for any breakfast before the ceremony Monday morning. It was then that I realized I hadn't had anything to eat since Sunday due to all the excitement. No Jell-O, no Froot Loops, nothing. Oops.

"Umm, I think I ate part of a sandwich Sunday afternoon, Doc. I would have eaten more, but it was tuna, and you know I can't stand tuna sandwiches. I really didn't have time to eat after that. Sorry."

Well, that explains some of the test results. But not all of them, Sir."

"Aww, for crying out loud, Doc. Don't turn me into a pincushion again. I just got a little dizzy. A little pizza, some beer, and I'll be just fine," I grumbled, hoping to distract her. To tell you the truth, I wanted to keep Janet as far away from what was going on inside my head as possible. The last thing I needed was for her to find out about my latest session with Thor's palm thingy.

"Is there a problem here, Doctor?" Damn, I hadn't heard General Hammond come in. Just what I needed, a general with stealth capabilities. I watched warily as he strode over to stand at the foot of my bed.

"I need to continue with my exam of Colonel O'Neill, Sir. And since he doesn't need an audience for this, I was about to suggest that his team leave to get something to eat and some sleep. The last thing I need is more work. And if they don't eat and get some rest, they will end in the beds right next to him. But, until I finish with my exam, I can't be sure of my diagnosis."

"Then I think the rest of SG-1 should clear the room. I don't want to see you back here for at least six hours, people. Do I make myself clear?" He continued in a softer voice. "Go get some rest now while you can, people. You won't do us any good if you don't take care of yourselves. God knows we're going to be busy enough before this is all over with."

"Yes Sir," chorused Carter and Daniel. We exchanged sheepish glances before they filed out of the room. 'Damn, I was so busted,' I thought morosely.

"Dr. Fraiser, don't let me keep you from completing your exam. Call me when you have your results. Colonel O'Neill, I expect nothing less than your full cooperation here. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sir," I mumbled softly with a grimace. My head was starting to pound again with all the activity and talking I had done. Crap! Just how the hell was I supposed to represent Earth while lying flat on my back in the Infirmary?

"Good, then I will leave you both to carry out my orders. Briefing will be at 1400 hours this afternoon." Then he strode back out the door to do whatever it is that generals do at oh dark-thirty in the morning. I heard Dr. Fraiser clear her throat and directed my attention back to her.

"You were saying Doc?"

"I need some answers, Colonel. I took an MRI brain scan shortly after we got you here. Your MRI results showed heightened brain activity. I haven't seen this kind of activity since your last encounter with the device from the Ancients. Is there something you aren't telling me, Sir?"

"I didn't get downloaded again, if that's what you mean, Doc. The only place I've been is here and on Thor's ship." Damn, she was getting just a little too close for comfort.

"You didn't answer my question, Sir. Just what happened to you on board that ship, Colonel?"

"Nothing happened, Doctor!" I snapped and sat up straight in bed despite the pain in my head. "Maybe your brain scan is wrong. Nothing happened on Thor's ship that would change me. I'm still the same cranky bird colonel that I was before this whole mess started. Nothing happened! Understand?" I sank back down onto the bed and scrubbed my face with my hands.

"If I could help you I would, Doc, but I can't," I mumbled. That little speech had taken more out of me that I really wanted to admit.

"I still need answers Colonel. If you are going to represent the interests of Earth in three days time, I have to insure that you are fit for duty and free of any alien influence. I'd like to run some more tests and do another MRI. I do want to rule out any possibility of error in my results." I heard her sigh, and looked at her. She sounded frustrated and I hated that I was putting her on the spot.

"OK, Doc. Run your tests. But, I promise you, I'll be fine. I just need some rest and some food in my stomach. Thor did not hurt me and I am not under any alien influence. I'd give my life to protect this planet. In fact, I already have. So let's just get on with these tests so we can both go back to doing our jobs." Janet smiled and nodded.

"Oh, and another thing, Doc. Could you please get me something else to wear besides this damn backless gown? I need to pee like a race horse and I damn well don't want to show my ass to all those horny female nurses of yours. Please, Doc? I'll do anything else you want, just get me some decent clothes to put on." I figured groveling couldn't hurt at this point. There was no need to piss off the Doctor. Not when she could make my life miserable, not to mention painful.

"I'll get you some scrubs to put on, Colonel. You can pee in a urinal since I need a urine sample anyway. I don't want you walking around just yet, so no solo trips to the bathroom. I can't take the chance that you might take a nose dive. My nurses would be so upset if anything happened to spoil your good looks, Sir," she added with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Alright, Doc, I'll do it your way. Give me the damn urinal and I'll fill it. But no peeking." She smiled as she got the thing out of a cabinet and handed it to me. Before she left, she disconnected the heart monitor and helped me pull the tabs off my chest. I'm proud to say that I took it like a man and didn't yell, even when she yanked out a bunch of my chest hairs. Much that it is.

"I'll be back with some scrubs, Colonel. Let me know when you're finished." She even closed the door on her way out.

Sweet! I hadn't been kidding when I told her I needed to pee. My bladder was so full my eyes felt like they were floating. I made the necessary adjustments to the urinal and sighed with relief as my "side arm" discharged in what felt like rapid-fire mode. Not a moment too soon either. True to my word, I pushed the call button when I was finished and held the sloshing container out to her when she opened the door.

"I think you'll have enough for any tests you need to run, Doc," I said with a smirk. She laid a set of hospital scrubs on the bed next to me before she used both hands to carefully take the smelly thing out of my hands.

"I think you're right, Sir. I'll get this sent off to the lab so you can have some privacy. After you've changed, I'll take you down for your MRI. I've decided this might be easier on you if I handled the rest of the tests myself. Wouldn't you agree, Colonel?" She smiled as she carried my pee-laden urinal out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I immediately stripped out of the gown and pulled on the pants and shirt. I was a little slow due to my still pounding head, but I did get the job done. Once again, I pushed the call button to let Janet know I was decent, or at least dressed. My thoughts hadn't been decent since puberty. The Doc returned pushing a wheelchair.

Needless, to say, I spent the rest of my time in the Doc's clutches demonstrating just how cooperative I could be when I needed to. By the time we finished with the MRI, I felt exhausted and felt more than ready to comply with her suggestion that I get some sleep. The pain pills she gave me probably didn't hurt either.

I must have fallen asleep before she even wheeled me back to my room, because the next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes and staring at the all too familiar ceiling tiles of the Infirmary. I realized I had been awakened by the sound of the door to my room being opened. Janet had just entered the room carrying a tray that smelled good.

"Good afternoon, Sir," she called cheerily. I brought you something to eat before the briefing. It's 1300 hours now, so you have just enough time to eat and get changed before we are due in the Briefing Room. I brought you something I thought your stomach could handle. No, Colonel, no tuna this time," she added with a chuckle. I'll have to admit the smell of the food had my mouth watering. My stomach rumbled as if to urge her to hurry. I dug into the food as soon as she sat the tray down. In between bites, I asked her for any news from Thor.

"You'll have to ask the General about that, Colonel. But you will be glad to hear that your last MRI scan showed no abnormal brain functions. So, I guess you're back to normal, whatever that is, Sir. I've told General Hammond that I will release you for active duty as soon as you get some food in your stomach. I'll send someone by with a set of your BDU's and your boots. I really don't think you want to attend the briefing wearing those scrubs, do you? "

"Doc, come on. Ya think?" I gave her my best snarky smile. "But, seriously, Doc, thanks."

"Don't mention it, Sir. How about I just put it on your bill? Although, just between you and me, I still can't help but wonder about that first scan. You and I both know that those test results were accurate. Don't we, Colonel?" She must have seen the panic in my eyes, because, then she hurriedly added.

"Don't worry, Sir. I trust your judgment and I know for a fact that you would never, ever do anything to jeopardize the safety of this planet. Just try to let me know when you have anymore visits with Thor. OK? Those transporter beams seem to do a real number on your head, Colonel." Then she winked at me. As God is my witness, the Queen of Needles herself, winked at me and smiled.

"Sure, Doc. Don't we all have a briefing to attend?" I gave her a sheepish grin.

In a way, I was kind of relieved that she had figured it out. I really hadn't liked telling her those half-truths earlier, but had felt like I really had no choice. On the other hand, if my scan was back to normal, I guessed that my brain must have been able to absorb the extra stuff that Thor's palm thingy had released. I did some mental rummaging around to check for any changes.

'Yep, my gray matter was all still intact,' I thought ruefully. Though I did make the unexpected discovery that I had added another language to my list. I realized that I now knew how to speak fluent Goa'uld. Well, that was cool, and would probably come in handy in the coming days. Of course, no one but me would know that I could understand what the Snakes were saying, but that was alright with me. It was my firm belief that it never hurt to have a trump card up your sleeve. Plus, Danny-Boy would remain the expert linguist for awhile and I would keep my "dumb-guy" reputation intact. In the meantime, I had a Summit to prepare for and a world to save. Again. Well, it was a living and saving the world certainly beat the hell out of the alternative. Not saving it, that is.

The End

****

Title: "Designing Jack" Part 3 of the "Becoming The Fifth Race" Series

Author: dinkydow

Email: jd3031socket.net

Category: Missing scene/prequel for "Shades of Grey" from Jack's point of view, Drama, angst, sequel to "Diplomatic Jack".

Rating: R for language. Jack is very upset.

Spoilers: Mainly from **"**Shades of Grey", Small ones from "The Serpent's Lair",

"Cor-ai", "Fair Game", "The Devil You Know" "A Hundred Days".

Warnings: Jack gets mad and swears. Minor Jack whumping but it's mainly mental.

Summary: Jack is ordered by Thor to do some more "damn distasteful things".

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own any of them. Couldn't afford to if I did and don't have a mountain to hide them in. Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions do. I wrote this for entertainment and won't be making any money for it. (heavy sigh).

Author's Notes: Huge honkin' thank you's go out to my husband Jerry and my friend Alice for helping me out with this thing. You've both been so supportive with me and my writing. Yes, I do like to hear from other fans who read my stuff. So please send me feedback.

Abruptly, I came back to myself, and found I was still sitting at the conference table looking at Thor, my short, skinny-assed, gray, guardian angel wannabe from the Asgard. It took me a moment to remember how I had gotten here. Major General George Hammond and I had been invited to attend this meeting on board Thor's spaceship. Maybe invited wasn't the word to use. Actually, Thor had out and out insisted that we attend, insinuating that if we didn't do it voluntarily, we would get beamed up anyway. So much for non-interference and the Prime Directive.

I had only been back home at Stargate Command for about a week, before my boss had called me into his office for a one-on-one chat. My curiosity had been immediately aroused when he made it clear that the rest of my team wasn't being told about it or invited to this meeting. When he informed me this meeting would be at 0230 in the morning, all the red flags, buzzers, and whistles in my brain had started flashing, jumping up and down, waving red flags, and yelling at me. "Danger, danger, Jack O'Neill!" So, like the good little colonel that I am, (sometimes), I told him I would be there and bedded down in my quarters on base hoping to catch some sleep before the meeting.

I was still getting used to being back on Earth again after my extended stay of three months on Edora. Little things like hot showers, indoor toilets, microwaves, and cable TV still were a novelty and felt strange to me. It was kind of like finding an old beloved sweater again and finding that it still fit and felt good after trying it on. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to be back on Earth, but I'll have to admit that I missed some parts of the life I had lived while stranded on that planet after a meteor buried the Stargate.

It had been a life uncomplicated by the secrecy of working at a top-secret base hidden deep within Cheyenne Mountain. My role as second in command of Stargate Command and commander of my team, SG-1, was radically different from the relative simplicity of Edora where the main thought of each day consisted of finding enough to eat and rebuilding a burned out village. Sure, the people there had put me in the position of savior, but at least I was only doing it on a local level. Usually, I was in the position of saving an entire planet, for God's sakes. Yeah, I'll have to admit being the take-charge type of guy I am, I tended to naturally gravitate towards that role. But it had been kind of nice to not have the fate of the world on my shoulders for awhile.

Even though I'd missed the technological comforts of Earth, I had grieved for the people I worked with the most because I had grown to think of them as my family. They were the reason I tried for so long to dig out that damn gate, even though the natives and good sense told me it was an impossible task. Well, nobody has ever accused me of having good sense or listening to advice.

I'd missed the special relationship I had with the members of my team the most. There were the little things that were so important to me. Things like Major Samantha Carter's smile and the way her eyes lit up when she had just figured out some new gadget. I swear, I could actually see the light-bulb pop on in her eyes when she got another one of her genius-type ideas. She was drop-dead gorgeous and way smarter than me. Yeah, she was OK for a scientist geek. Just thinking about her now made my stomach do flip-flops. Not that I had THOSE kind of feelings for her. Don't even go there, Jack! For crying out loud, you're her CO! Moving right along to safer territory…

Danny-Boy! Yeah, umm, Dr. Daniel Jackson, archeologist and linguist geek, was the only civilian on my team. It was my job to keep him out of trouble and on-task while we were out there exploring. Of course, this was impossible to do because he was so easily distracted by rocks. No, wait, he calls them artifacts. In short, if it was something that had happened so long ago that nobody really cared about it anymore, he had to analyze it. Analyzing it meant he had to touch it or pick it up, despite any orders I'd given him telling him not to do exactly that. To give him credit, it was just that sort of curiosity that had led him to figuring out how to open the Stargate in the first place. So despite the fact that Daniel was such a pain in the ass, I loved him like the little brother I'd never had. Damn, this train of thought was so not me. Too touchy feely. Next thing you know, I'd be suggesting a group hug. How 'bout those hockey scores, huh?

Teal'c, yeah, he was a safely macho subject. He was the alien on my team and had joined us last during our first visit to Chulak. He was built like a tank, had muscles on his muscles, a wicked right hook, and was really good at looking scary. I swear, he had it down to an art. In fact, he had most of the SGC personnel buffaloed, even the jarheads. In short, if he wanted the last Jell-O in the commissary, he got it, no questions asked. Even though he wasn't in our military, he was a fellow warrior. We understood each other so well probably because we had both been called to do some damn distasteful things by our bosses in our time. He was still learning all about us Tau'ri and, I'll have to admit, I was having fun teaching him. Believe it or not, that man was developing a wicked sense of humor.

So, getting back to the story, I had showed up in Hammond's office that morning at 0230 not really sure what to expect. My boss had proceeded to blow me away with his account of the continuing theft of alien technology from other planets. He said representatives from the Nox and the Tollan had already met with him while I was trapped on Edora.

To top it all off, he said they all insisted that it was us that was doing the stealing. Us, as in personnel from the SGC. According to Hammond, the thefts were occurring on several different planets and it was pissing off all our alien allies big time. Now, that was definitely not a good thing. Hell, we needed them if we were going to survive at all, let alone defeat the Snakeheads.

Anyway, about half an hour later, we were both beamed up to attend a secret meeting on board Thor's ship. I guess the Asgard had volunteered to represent the rest of the aliens for the meeting. Supposedly they wanted to show us all the evidence they had that proved we were doing the stealing. Unfortunately for us, Thor had all the evidence he needed to try, convict, and send us up the river for a long time. He showed us recordings that documented teams dressed in SGC uniforms stealing stuff and just generally creating a big nuisance of themselves. Hell, they even shot some natives who got in their way. All that evidence: humans using our weapons, wearing our uniforms complete with patches, stealing alien technology, the whole nine yards, was pretty damning. I don't know how Hammond took it, but, I felt about one inch tall. Damn this didn't look good for us at all! Thor blinked and looked at both of us from his position at the head of the table.

"General Hammond, these thefts must stop. If they do not, the Nox and the Tollan have authorized me to tell you that all diplomatic relations with Earth will cease. The Asgard agree with this decision."

"Thor, you and I both know that the SGC is not responsible for this! I have personally checked all Gate activations for the past three months and know that our teams are not involved. Whoever is doing this, they aren't going through our Stargate," insisted General Hammond.

"That may well be, but the thieves are coming from your world. The Tollan, the Nox, and the Asgard all are in agreement on this. We also have decided that it is you who will have to put a stop to this. If you do not, we will have no alternative but to sever all ties with your people. You must understand that I would truly regret ending such a rewarding relationship, but if we cannot trust you, then we would have no other choice in this."

"But, Thor, buddy, you know that we don't operate that way. We don't steal stuff. Yeah, it would be sweet to get our hands on a couple of those ion cannons, but we don't just take stuff. We ask for it, even though you guys won't share. After all, we do know how to take no for an answer. We certainly hear it often enough. That along with those snide, snotty remarks about how primitive we are." I figured pleading a little couldn't hurt at this point. A little guilt trip or two wouldn't do any harm either, if it worked. I had my doubts that it would, but figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

Don't get me wrong. I consider Thor to be a friend. Not just to me, but to my people. But I knew we really couldn't afford to alienate these guys. It was them that had helped us get protection under the Treaty of Protected Planets in the first place. Thor had really gone to bat for us that time. I had a feeling that he had really gone out on a limb for us, that if he hadn't spoken up for us, no one else would have bothered. Without the protection from the Treaty, we would have been annihilated when the System Lord's finally launched their attack. We wouldn't have had stood a chance with that much fire power unleashed against us. Hammond and I both knew it. Unfortunately, the Tollan, the Nox, and the Asgard knew it too. Which meant they had us right where they wanted us, by the short hairs.

"O'Neill, the Nox, the Tollan and the Asgard believe you when you say that you have not taken these things. We have observed you over time and know you to be an honorable man. We have witnessed your selfless acts of bravery and have peered into your mind. We know we can trust you." Thor turned to my boss before continuing.

"General Hammond. We also trust you. You would not be here otherwise. I have been authorized to inform you that we will not cut off all contact with your race on one condition.

"And this condition is….what?" I asked suspiciously. Thor blinked his big black eyes and looked solemnly at me. I thought I could see where he was going with this and didn't like it one damn bit.

"You must locate who is behind the thefts of our technology. We have researched your past, O'Neill. We know that you have experience in this sort of matter."

"Now wait a damn minute, Thor! If you know about that part of my life, then you also know that I don't do that anymore. That part of my past isn't one I'm particularly proud of and I sure as hell don't want to go there again. So don't even say it, Thor. I don't do black ops work anymore. I CAN'T do it anymore," I muttered bitterly.

Suddenly, I couldn't sit still any longer and I jumped to my feet. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I turned my back on my two friends and stalked away. Even that wasn't enough to escape the thoughts and memories racing through my mind, so I began to pace back and forth. Thor just kept on talking, his words knifing through my thoughts.

"It can only be you. We can trust no one else to do this, O'Neill." I stopped my pacing and stood leaning my hands against the table. I turned my best glare on the alien, hoping to intimidate the hell out of him. It usually worked, but didn't this time. I guess the fact that he was an alien and not some airman at the SGC might have had something to do with it. Crap! This was turning out to be so not my day.

"Yeah, well, Thor old buddy. You don't seem to be listening very well. So read my lips. I don't do that anymore. As in nope, no way Jose, no way, no how, ain't gonna happen. Just what part of no don't you understand, huh? So how about we talk about Plan B, because quite frankly, your Plan A sucks."

"There is no Plan B to consider, O'Neill. You must find the people on your world who are behind the thefts, and you must do it alone. Only you and Hammond can know of this plan because everyone else is a suspect in the thefts," Thor continued implacably. "I will leave you both now to think on what I have said. I will return soon to hear of your decision." Then the gray alien shuffle-glided away from the table and left the room, leaving us to our own little personal hells.

I still felt too keyed up to sit down and resumed my pacing. Feeling my boss's eyes on me, I tried to ignore him. That didn't work either, so I reached for my chair and slumped down in it.

"Jack, I don't want to order you to do this…" he began.

"Then don't, Sir! Because I don't want to add disobeying a direct order to my list of sins right now. Do you have any idea of what he is asking me to do, Sir?"

"I think I do, son. And I don't like it either. You know, I've done my share of missions that weren't exactly above board too. I remember the bad taste it left in my mouth afterwards. But they're holding all the cards, Jack. They aren't leaving us much of a choice."

"No, General, they're not leaving ME much of a choice. I'm going to be the fall-guy in this one, the one that has to go back to a way of life that I swore I would never live again. Just how many times can I operate in that black area of hell before nothing of me is left, Sir? You know how doing that stuff eats away at your soul, your very identity. That's why I quit. I can't go back there again, not without losing a part of me that I can't replace."

I got up and moved away towards the table again. Thankfully, Hammond didn't say anything. What could he say? He was right, they had us right where they wanted us, and they knew it. If I refused to go along with their plan, we would lose more than just allies. We would lose any chance we had of surviving as a species. The Snakeheads would move in like sharks in a feeding frenzy. After the dust had settled, my world would be toast and my people would have snakes in their heads or be slaves. Either that or be dead. But better dead than a snake in the head. What a hell of a slogan, Jack. Next thing you know, you'll be writing jingles to sell used cars. Crap!

I realized I was standing in front of the observation window. In front of me was the blackness of space with a sprinkling of stars sparkling in the background like the glitter on some kid's art project. Below me revolved the planet of my birth, Earth.

Thor was no dummy. He had known exactly what he was doing when he had the meeting here. He had even seated us so that Hammond and I had a bird's-eye view of our home revolving below us. Just in case we had to be reminded of what was at stake here. Yeah, as if we didn't know. As if I didn't know. Damn!

I flashed back to another time when I had watched in horror as the Mothership I was on passed the rings of Saturn and approached Earth. I still remembered the awful feeling in the pit of my stomach as I'd looked out the observation window, listening to the snake that infested my friend Skaara gleefully tell me of the imminent destruction of my home planet. Yeah, I knew what was at stake alright. I turned where I was and looked at my boss. He was still sitting, watching me. He didn't look happy. Well gee, that made two of us.

"General, I really need to talk with Thor about this. No offense, Sir, but I need to do it alone."

"Jack, I know this can't be easy for you. You're right, it's you that has no choice and it will be you that will have to take the risks. Take whatever time you need."

'Yeah, and if something goes wrong, it will be me that takes the fall', I added silently. I knew he was thinking the same thing. He was right, he knew the deal. In the shadow-world of black ops, one wrong move, one word to the wrong person, and it was over. You disappeared. No body to bury, you were just…gone. We'd both been there, bought the t-shirt, ripped it off, and swore never to wear it again. Now I was being told I would have to go back to that life. I shuddered.

"Thor, we need to talk," I said to the air.

As if he had been listening, the door opened and he appeared. Hell, it was his ship, he probably WAS listening in. If I were in his shoes, I sure as hell would. Wait, he doesn't wear shoes. Does he? Bad example.

"I'll leave you two alone for awhile. Thor, I'll be right outside." Hammond was being extremely understanding about this. As the door swished closed behind him, I stepped back to the table. Thor was sitting at its head again. I took my seat and spread my palms flat on the table. I studied my splayed fingers before turning my gaze on my alien friend.

"I know I'm going to have to do this, Thor. It's not as if you've given me much of a choice. But, do you really know what you're asking me to do? I mean, do you really? Because, the people you're asking me to hang around with are the very ones that would jump at the chance to take me apart, literally. I'm talking about the NID and their offshoots, Thor. These people live in a world with no rules and no morals, a place where the concepts of right and wrong don't exist. They don't see the world as black and white, good and evil. They only see it as varying shades of gray. They would just as soon shoot you as look at you. One slip and I'm history. Gone, as in very dead. That is if I'm lucky. If they somehow found out about what I have inside my head…" I shuddered, not even able to complete my sentence out loud. Yeah, lab rat time for yours truly.

"I've been doing my damnest to make sure that nobody knows about this little secret of mine, Thor. I haven't even told my boss about it. And now, you're telling me I have to be best pals with the same people that would tear me apart if they knew? How can I do this, huh? How can I, no, YOU risk all this stuff from the Ancients falling into their sticky little hands? For crying out loud, help me out here, buddy. I feel like you're throwing me to the wolves. How's about a safety net?"

"We can offer you some safeguards, O'Neill. With these, we will be able to monitor your whereabouts at all times. We also realize how much more we could lose if your knowledge became known to the wrong people. However, Hammond will need to know of your secret. If he is to provide any protection for you at all, he must be told."

I sighed heavily knowing Thor was right. He would have to know about my little treasure trove. Telling him about it was not going to be fun. The idea that I had been withholding important information from my CO had never sat well with me. Now I would be telling him that he couldn't trust me to be honest with him. Sure, I'd had a damn good reason for not telling him, but it still sucked big time. He was not going to be a happy camper.

"Yeah, Thor, you're right. I'm just not looking forward to telling him, that's all. After all, he trusted me. That's a big deal in my book." I had a sudden, unwelcome thought. 'Oops, Hammond wasn't the only one we had to tell. Doc Fraiser!' She already suspected I was hiding something because of my brain scans. Because of what she already knew and suspected, she would have to be let in on this little scenario. I knew the general wouldn't be thrilled about that either. After all, she hadn't exactly lied to him, but she hadn't been telling him the entire truth about my test results either. This day just kept getting better and better.

"Uhh, Thor. We may have another problem. Dr. Fraiser took some brain scans after our last session with your palm thingy. She knows, Thor. She even told me that my scans showed the same results as when I had the download from the Ancients the first time. She hasn't told anyone about it because she said she trusts my judgment. But she will have to know about this. If we don't let her in on it, my cover will be blown sky high when she finds any abnormalities and reports them. And she will find them, Thor. When I start acting weird, the first thing they will do is run all kinds of tests on me to rule out any kind of alien influence. The General will have to order the tests. It would look too suspicious if he didn't because it's SOP for our facility. Besides, I'm going to have to do some damn good acting to convince everybody that I've gone dark-side. My opinions on these thefts are pretty well known. I haven't been exactly shy about expressing my opinion on things like that."

"We can discuss the details of this undertaking after Hammond has returned, O'Neill. However, I can assure you that we will take steps to ensure your well-being. This will be done prior to your return today. I believe it would be wise to bring him back into the room now. Are you ready, O'Neill?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. Might as well bring him in. We've got to get this show on the road."

Already, I could feel myself changing inside, mentally preparing myself for the dirty business waiting for me. My heart was already feeling the necessary coldness I must have for the coming covert operation. I hated what I was feeling, but knew it was imperative if I were to succeed. If I were to come out of this alive and half-way sane, I had to focus all my energy on the up-coming mission, divorcing myself from any emotions but those connected with the successful completion of the job I'd been given. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a prayer. Correction, Earth wouldn't have a prayer. Failure just wasn't an option at this point. Startled out of my thoughts, I looked up as I heard the swishing of opening doors. General Hammond appeared and slowly walked back up to the table.

"Thor? Jack? I assume we have some plans to make." No doubt about it. He wasn't wasting any time. That probably explained why he was the general and I was the bird colonel. He was right. We really had some talking to do. God, this wasn't going to be easy. I cleared my throat nervously.

"General Hammond. I have a confession to make. I haven't been entirely honest with you." My boss was doing an impression of a mackerel out-of-water, but I figured I might as well get this over with as quickly as possible. God knows, he has had enough rude surprises to last him a lifetime. Now I was about to add to it. Hopefully, that wouldn't ensure that I stayed on his shit list forever. Oh well, what could he do? Bend my dog tags? Send me on a suicide mission? No, wait! Too late. I was already going on one.

"I'm waiting, Colonel O'Neill." Oooh, he definitely was not a happy camper about this. Well, this was just peachy.

"Hammond, I too have been less than completely honest with you concerning my dealings with O'Neill. He is not entirely to blame for this," Thor interjected helpfully.

"Would somebody please just tell me what the hell is going on? I'll decide who's to blame. Well, Colonel, I'm waiting." Yep, that's my boss, right to the point.

"Sir, remember when I came back from Thor's home planet after I got downloaded with all that stuff from the Ancients? In my report I told you that it was all gone, that the Asgard removed it from my brain. Well, that wasn't entirely the case, Sir," I hedged. I was having trouble looking him in the eye.

"What are you saying, Colonel? Come on, spit it out, dammit." Yep, he was pissed.

"The information is all still there, Sir. I just can't get to it, most of it anyway. You see, what the Asgard did was help me isolate all that stuff in a corner of my head. I had to have their help because it was killing me. So, when I got beamed up to see Thor before the Treaty Summit, he helped me release some of that info. That was how I was able to learn all the ins and outs of the Treaty so fast. Sir, I really did want to tell you. But I knew that you would have to report it to your superiors and I didn't want to take the risk of hostiles finding out about my little treasure trove of information. The NID goons would've had me locked up and strapped down before I even made it out of your office. Not to mention what those snake's with delusions of god-hood would do to get their slimy, snaky hands on it. It was the only way I could think of to protect the information, Sir. So I didn't mention it in my report." I paused to gulp in a breath of air.

"Sir, for what it's worth, I regret that I had to do it. But, I'd do it again in order to protect the information. I can only imagine what Kinsey would try to do with it and we both know he gets our reports." Yeah, he would've run straight to Maybourne with it.

I sat, looking at the table. At this point I was afraid to even look at my CO, who also happened to be my friend, because I didn't know if I could have stood to see the look of betrayal in his eyes. Remembering the job I was about to do, I looked up anyway. I figured I might as well get used to it because I was going to be seeing that look directed at me a lot in the near future.

"Colonel O'Neill, Is this yet another example of your creative report writing?"

"I guess you could call it that, Sir, " I replied wincing. There was certainly nothing wrong with his memory.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me, Jack?"

"Sir?" OK, so I was stalling, but you can't blame a guy for trying.

"You heard me. Is there anything else that you need to tell me?" Damn, he wasn't going to give up, was he? I took another deep breath.

"I believe Dr. Fraiser is aware of the stuff in my head, Sir. But, I'm still basically the same old me. Just with some upgrades, so to speak. Sir." Hey Thor, help me out here. The little alien wasn't saying a word. You know, for such a talkative guy, he was suddenly being awfully damn quiet. After a moment, Hammond started taking. Now I was in for it.

"So, Colonel, what you're telling me is that you still have access to some of the information from that download from the Ancients' device and that Thor has been aiding and abetting you in concealing this from me. And that you and Thor have been doing your utmost to prevent this valuable information from falling into the wrong hands. Is that what you're telling me, Jack?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And, are you also telling me that you've been using this information only to protect our planet from the Goa'uld?"

"Uhh, Yes, Sir," I agreed. Yeah, that's what I'd been doing. Certainly hadn't made any money off that Intel. I was looking at my hands again, but risked a quick look at my CO and then looked back down. Suddenly my hands on the table had become extremely interesting. Hmm, he didn't look too pissed. Maybe I'd only be cleaning latrines for a month, instead of a year. Who knows, with good behavior, he might even let me use a big brush instead of my toothbrush.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Airman!" My head snapped up like it had been jerked on a string. Years of military training, not to mention boot camp, will do that to you. Believe me, I know. I had done way too many push-ups in my time to forget that lesson so easily.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" My eyes were fastened to his like superglue now. The expression on his face was one of exasperation. I recognized that look mainly because he had directed it at me a few times before. All right, a whole honking bunch of times before.

"Colonel, if you didn't tell me this before, why the hell are you telling me now? Just what has changed in this scenario?"

"General Hammond. It was I who suggested that O'Neill inform you of the information he carries. As he will be required to infiltrate the very organizations who would harm him, additional safeguards will need to be provided to assure both the safety of him and the information he carries in his brain. I will provide these safeguards so that we may monitor his condition at all times. However, in order for you to be able to support him in this endeavor, you now need to know what you are protecting. This is why we have informed you of his secret. Believe me when I say this, Hammond. We of the Asgard hold O'Neill in very high esteem because of who he is and what he is becoming." With that enigmatic remark, the little guy was silent. Damn, what a mouthful. Almost made me sound important. Yeah, right. In your dreams, O'Neill! You're a legend in your own mind alright.

"Aww, for crying out loud Thor don't make me into something I'm not. Sir, my buddy here kind of exaggerated the part about me becoming something stuff. I'm still just me, a bird colonel who can be a real pain in the ass sometimes." I shrugged my shoulders. All that attention was making me very uncomfortable. General Hammond actually smiled at me. You know, I think he was enjoying watching me squirm. Still, a smile was better than the look he had been directing my way earlier.

"Colonel, I'm very aware of your capabilities and short-comings. Be that as it may, you still haven't told me just what it is that has changed about you. I haven't noticed any difference in your performance, Jack."

"I'm glad you said that, General. I've been doing everything I can think of to convince everyone that nothing has changed. As long as they all think that this old bird is about as sharp as a box of rocks, they won't suspect what is really going on inside my head. As for the changes in my abilities, for one thing, I can speak and understand what the Snakes are saying now. Comes kind of handy when they start with their 'kree' bullshit. Oh, and Thor helped me understand all that gobbledygook stuff in the 'Treaty of Protected Planets Handbook' he gave us. Sir, you think Air Force regs are bad. The doubletalk in that thing makes our rules look downright user-friendly in comparison."

"Just what part does my CMO play in this little con of yours, Jack?"

"Dr. Fraiser said my scans showed elevated brain activity right after she carted me off to her Infirmary that time when I passed out in the Briefing Room. But she said it had gone back to normal later. She told me she made the connection because it looked like the scan I had when I'd originally been downloaded. Sir, the reason Thor and I told you about her is because she's going to have to be told something about this little sting operation I'm going to do. Anything Thor does to help him monitor me is bound to show up in her tests. If she blows the whistle on me, my cover would be blown, and I could end up dead, Sir."

"You're right, Jack. She will have to be told, but only on a need-to-know basis. There's a real danger in sharing a secret with too many people." Then I noticed his stern face change as the worry lines seemed to soften a little.

"Son, I can't say that I like the fact that you withheld information from me. I can understand your reasons though. God knows I've had to tangle with that NID bunch way too many times. You and I both know that their sense of morals is about as crooked as a dog's hind leg. And by saying that, I'm insulting the dog! The fact that you've been using this new ability of yours in our defense really counts for something in my book, Jack."

The level of tension in the room suddenly evaporated, leaving me almost weak with relief. One hurdle down, only a bunch more to go. How did that saying go? Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." Something like that anyway. Well, my web was about to get a hell of a lot more tangled, that's for sure. Now that I had just aired all my dirty laundry with my boss, it was time to get down to business. My CO seemed to agree with me.

"Thor, we still haven't planned just how Jack is going to catch these thieves for you. Just what is your game plan, Jack? I have a few ideas of my own, but I'd like to hear yours first."

"General, I have to make them come to me and in order to do that I have to convince them that they can use me. The only way I can think of to do that is to steal something myself, Sir. You both know that my performance will have to be pretty damn convincing to fool these guys. That means doing something pretty drastic, like stealing an ion cannon, or something like that."

"You're right, Jack, and it also means you and I will be having a big falling out. You know that what I'll be telling you shouldn't be taken personally."

"Sir, that goes without saying. Both you and I will have to exchange quite a few insults if it's going to have a snowball's chance in Netu to work. So I'm apologizing ahead of time for all the crap I'll be giving you, Sir."

"Apology accepted, son. Now Thor, just who else is going to know about this? Before you say anything, I need to inform you that I'm duty-bound to inform my President of this problem. I don't have to give him details, but he does need to know that our allies aren't happy."

"I understand the responsibilities of command, General Hammond. We of the Asgard also have our superiors to report to. Travell, Chancellor of the Tollan, will be told of course, along with the Nox representative. Then there will be you two, as well as your Doctor. No other members of your race can know anything because they are suspects in the thefts." So much for informing our regular chain of command. Who knows who the moles were or just how high up this cancer had spread? Yep, no doubt about it, this was turning out to be one giant cluster fuck.

"What about my team? I can personally vouch for them, Thor. There is no way that they are involved in this. You can trust them. It's not as if they can't keep a secret. They've been doing that for three years. I KNOW they can be trusted. I trust them with my life all the time. And it's not as if you don't owe them something for all the help they've given our allies, Thor."

"They cannot be told anything, O'Neill. Teal'c is the former First Prime of Apophis and a Jaffa. As for Samantha Carter, while it is true that she is a member of your military and has helped us in the past, she has no experience in covert operations. Likewise, your Daniel Jackson also has no experience in this. I am sorry O'Neill, but we cannot take the risk that one of them may say the wrong thing or react in the incorrect manner to your actions. This is a matter that is non-negotiable. They can be told nothing." Thor just kept staring at me. I stared back, hoping I would be able to stare him down. Damn those black eyes of his were hell when it came to a who-will-blink-first contest. He had me beat in no time flat, hands down. What a mess this was turning out to be. I was getting royally screwed and hadn't even brought my jar of Vaseline.

"General Hammond? You know how close we are. We're like family. That's why we work so well together. And now you're telling me that I have to lie to them? Think about what that'll do to the dynamics of our team." 'Not to mention what it will do to me,' I added in my head. The empty feeling in my stomach was back in spades. My head wasn't feeling too great either. I swear it felt like I had a guy beating on it like a bongo drum. Great. Yeah, this was just peachy!

The General must have known what I was thinking. Hell, he watched us in action all the time, and he knew how close we were. If I lied to them, that feeling of family we had would be destroyed. And once, that was gone, I would be alone again. Could I survive if they all turned their backs on me? I had my doubts about that. Yep, definitely should have brought that Vaseline.

"Jack, as much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with Thor. Even though you and I both know that they aren't in on these thefts, they can't know anything about your operation. I wish I could say different, but it would put both you and them at risk. How they respond to your actions must be genuine."

Damn, there went my last hope of salvaging some of the respect my team members had for me. Deep down inside, I knew my CO and Thor were right. My team's reactions to my changed behavior would be scrutinized by any plants the bad guys had at the SGC. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had to be there. The fact that the thefts were continuing proved it.

The coldness inside me continued to grow larger as I contemplated what I would have to do. I would have to piss off the members of my team big time. Not only did we know each other inside and out, but we cared too much about each other not to question behavior changes in any one of us. We didn't just watch each others sixes off-world. This caring took place on-world also, both at work and off base. Crap!

I guess they could see that I was doing some heavy duty thinking because neither Thor or Hammond were saying anything. They just kept looking at me. I used both hands to scrub my face. The headache was still there and all this pressure wasn't helping.

"Can you do it, O'Neill? Can you alienate everyone?" asked Thor. Count on him to come right to the point.

"Yeah, I can do it." That's what scared me. I knew I could do it. I could be absolutely ruthless when I needed to. And God help me, but my words to my friends would need to be lethal in this case. Because I also knew that the only way I could keep them from suspecting a con was to push them away and hurt them. Not only that, I would have to do it right away, hurt them so bad that they would stay away from me. But God, I didn't want to. Since when did what I wanted make any difference, though?

I could already see the hurt look of reproach in Carter's eyes. And Daniel, hurting him would be like kicking a whipped puppy. He was my best friend and didn't give his trust lightly. To protect him and me, I would have to do everything possible to break that trust. As for Teal'c, he wouldn't say anything, but I would be able to tell that I had let him down. He would just give me that measuring stare of his, the one that would find me without honor.

Losing their respect like that would be like murdering something. And I was going to have to do the killing, just as surely as if I were putting a bullet in our friendship. Plus, I knew there was always the risk of the bad guys coming after them if I didn't cooperate in one of their schemes. They wouldn't hesitate to use my friends as a kind of insurance policy. Not exactly kosher, but then, that's the way things were done in their shadow-world. I'd been there long enough to know. Now I would be going back.

Yeah, I could always tell them it had all been a setup after it was all over. Later, if there was a later for me, that is. But the damage would already be done. Once a trust is broken, it's damn hard to win it back. Oh, Teal'c, being the warrior that he is, would understand. I have a fair idea that he has some pretty gruesome skeletons in his closet. And Carter, being military, she would understand too, after a fashion. Understand me, yes. Forgive me? That was a big fat honkin' maybe. Maybe with time. But as for Daniel, he would neither understand nor forgive me.

Let's face it. This little covert operation was going to cost me more than just a few more nightmares. Oh well, adding a few more sins to my already impressive list wasn't going to make a whole hell of a lot of difference in the long run since I really wasn't planning to make it past St. Peter at the Pearly Gates anyway. I guess our little jaunt to Netu was good training for my future place of residence in the afterlife. Unfortunately, there was a good chance that I would be visiting there in the not too distant future. Damn, this really sucked big time. Did I mention I thought this plan sucked? Note to self: Send memo to Thor telling him his plan sucks.

"O'Neill, our time here grows short. If we are to keep this meeting a secret, both of you will need to be returned soon. I will contact you with the details of the rest of the plan after I consult with the Tollan and the Nox. They need to be informed that you have agreed to our plan. Now, O'Neill, come here please. It is time." I knew exactly what he meant. Time for another session with his glowy palm thing. I glanced at my watch. We'd already been at this about three hours. Well, you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun. Yeah, right.

"OK, Thor, but exactly what will you be doing this time. I mean, I really think I have a right to know just what will be happening inside my head. It is my head, after all." I looked at my boss. He wasn't saying a word. Well, this was the first time for him. As for me, it was becoming old hat. Sort of. I scooted my chair up closer to the little gray guy. I figured if I was going to pass out, I could at least be sitting down when I did it.

"I will enable the programming that will allow us to maintain constant contact with you. It will be completely undetectable after it is operational. I will personally be monitoring this frequency, O'Neill. Believe me when I tell you this. I truly do not wish you to come to any harm as I find our relationship…enjoyable." So now I'm enjoyable. So much for my reputation as a tough-as-nails SOB.

"Could I make a suggestion before we start? Could you beam us back to the Infirmary afterwards, Thor? It will just save wear and tear on our hospital gurneys since I always pass out after these sessions. Plus, we really don't need to raise a big fuss when we get back. What do you think, General?"

"I couldn't agree with you more, Jack. Can you do it Thor? I think one of the isolation rooms would be about right."

"Our transporter technology is very precise, Hammond. Of course it can be done. Are you ready, O'Neill?" As he raised his hand, my eyes followed it. At some point he had gotten a hold of his glowy palm thingy again. Damn, how did he do that? It's not as if he had it in his pockets or anything. He was a non-clothes-wearing, short, gray alien for God's sakes! Then my thoughts were replaced by physical sensation.

Pain and pressure were building inside my head again. As the pain spiked upwards, a bright shimmering light traveled from the middle of my forehead to end at Thor's raised palm. The pressure in my head faded when the light did. I blinked and then it was nighty-night time for Jack O'Neill as my world faded to black.

I could feel pressure on my right eye, but wasn't aware of much of anything else yet. Then, suddenly, my sight was filled with a bright, searing light.

"Arrgh! Dammit Doc! Get that damn light out of my eye! What are you trying to do, kill me?" I roared. Well, at least that was my intention. What came out sounded more like the croak of an asthmatic bull-frog. Clearing my throat, I opened my eyes and tried speaking again. I could see the oh-so-familiar ceiling tiles of the SGC Infirmary. I guess Thor's accuracy was as good as advertised.

"Doc, What is it with you and your damn penlights?" I muttered.

"Good morning to you too, Colonel," she replied. I turned my head and saw that the good doctor and General Hammond were standing next to my bed. I immediately tried maneuvering my arms so I could sit up. But as soon as I tried this, my headache reached mammoth proportions. With a groan of disgust, I gave that up as a lost cause and settled back down.

Damn, but this routine was getting monotonous. Get beamed up by Thor. Have session with Thor's glowy palm thing. Get headache. Pass out. Get beamed back down. Wake up in Infirmary. Get tortured by Fraiser's penlight. Keep headache. Complain. Get stuck with big needles. Complain. Yep. I think that's about the way it went.

"Doc, we're going to have to quit meeting like this. People are beginning to talk," I quipped. Well, at least my razor-sharp wit had survived intact. Based on how drained I felt, I decided maybe staying in bed wasn't such a bad idea after all. But I knew I couldn't let Janet know that. If I gave in to her too easily, she would think I was really sick and then she'd never let me out. At least she hadn't threatened me with any of her huge honkin' needles…yet.

"Good to see you back with us, Colonel," commented Hammond. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep the day away."

"It's good to see you too, Sir," I answered back. Yep, still hadn't lost my witty repartee. Yep, that's me. Colonel Jonathon O'Neill, hit of the cocktail party.

"Sorry Doc, I guess Thor's transporter thingy kind of messed with my head again. You know how it is." I gave her a grin. "By the way, when are you letting me out of your little house of horrors? You know that Jack is a busy man. Places to go, people to see."

"Cut the crap, Sir," she admonished knowingly. "You aren't leaving here until I get some answers. I saw her nail my boss with a glare. Ooh, she seemed really pissed.

"General? Can you please tell me what the hell is going on here? Here it is, six oh five in the morning. One minute I'm making my rounds in a QUIET Infirmary, and the next minute I see this flash of light coming from one of my isolation rooms. After I run to the door, what do I see but the two top officers of the SGC, one of whom is passed out on the bed."

"Let me explain, Dr. Fraiser. But first, I need you to understand that what I'm about to tell you must remain in this room." I could see a no-nonsense look on my CO's face. This time he was directing it at Janet, not at me.

"Of course, Sir."

"As you've probably already guessed, the Colonel and I just returned from an emergency meeting with the Asgard. Jack here, passed out after having some adjustments done with one of Thor's gadgets."

She gave a startled look to the General before nodding her head. In the silence that followed his pronouncement, I could almost hear the gears turning in her head as she was putting two and two together and coming up with the square root of sixteen. See, I can too do math. And I didn't even have to take off my shoes and socks to do it.

"Same symptoms as the last time, Colonel?" she asked, looking at me. See, I told you she was smart. By the way she had looked at our CO I also knew that she knew that the General knew what she knew… Did I get that right? I guess I still wasn't thinking too clearly yet.

"Yep, same old same old, Doc. Nail-in-the-head headache and the urge to puke on somebody's shoes. Same story as usual." I tried to grin when I saw the General take a step back, but knew that would be a very bad thing for me to do. Guess he thought vomit wouldn't do his uniform any good.

Janet handed me a basin. Just in time too, because I was losing the battle to keep the remnants of last night's dinner in my stomach. Curling up on my side and grabbing the basin, I gave it up as a lost cause and puked up everything but my toenails. Nothing but bile came up, but it left the usual nasty taste in my mouth. Sighing, I relinquished my hold on it and gave the container back to the Doc. Staying curled up on my side gave my aching head and sore stomach muscles a break, so I didn't move. The General waited while she had disposed of the mess in the nearest biohazard bag before continuing.

"Dr. Fraiser, I understand that your reports concerning the state of Colonel O'Neill's health have been incomplete." Janet opened her mouth to speak, but he wasn't through yet.

"Colonel O'Neill has explained why you didn't report this to me. While on one hand, I can understand your reasoning, on the other hand, I cannot condone your behavior. As commander of a top-secret facility, I'm responsible for everything that happens here, Doctor. There is no way I can make informed decisions regarding the personnel under my command if I don't have all the information. I don't want it happening again, Captain Fraiser. Do I make myself clear?" He had the her full attention now.

"Yes, Sir." There didn't seem to be much she could say under the circumstances. She was guilty of keeping information from her CO and she knew it.

"Now, having said that, I reckon I need to add to it. Off the record, I applaud your willingness to protect Jack, and I need you to continue doing it. But, with a change. Any test results showing unusual readings will be hand-carried to me by you. I'll have them placed in a more secure area. These results are not, I repeat, NOT to be placed in his regular medical file unless I tell you otherwise. Nor will you discuss these findings with anyone else. Am I understood, Doctor?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied. I could tell she had more questions, but didn't want to stick her neck out at this point. I didn't blame her. She could've gotten into a whole bunch of trouble over this. Most other CO's would have put an official reprimand in her file, at the very least. As I was partially to blame for her predicament, I was relieved that Hammond hadn't done that to her.

"I'm suggesting that you stay on the base for the next two weeks, Doctor. There is a very high probability that we'll be visiting Thor a few more times and I don't want anyone else but you treating Jack if he needs it. In fact, as far as the rest of SGC are concerned, these visits aren't happening."

"What visits, Sir?" she replied with a smile. "I understand completely. No one will know a thing. I can have Cassie stay with a friend."

"That includes my team too, Doc. I mean it. No one else can know about this," I added. I could see that my statement had taken her by surprise. She, of all people knew how close we were. The fact that we took turns babysitting each other through our all too frequent stays in her little domain said it all.

"We can't tell you anything more that what we already have, Doctor," added the General.

"I can keep this room vacant unless we fill up here. If I have to use it for the overflow from the ward, I'll let you know, Sir. Will that help?"

"That should do it, Doctor. Now I reckon it's time for me to report to my office. I imagine someone will be looking for me soon," smiled Hammond. Then he walked out the door, closing it shut behind him.

"Now, Colonel. I believe I have an exam to complete." She grabbed a thermometer.

"Open wide, Sir."

"But…" That was a mistake as she used that as an excuse to shove the damn thing in my mouth.

"Not another word, Colonel. You're mine now, and you won't leave here until I'm finished." She must have seen the rebellion in my eyes, because she pulled her trump card.

"You know, I just got in a brand new shipment of exam gloves and extra-large needles. The kind I use on uncooperative colonels. By the way, isn't it about time for your prostate exam, Sir?" Then that evil woman stretched one glove and let it go with a loud thwack! The sound made me cringe.

"Crystal, Doc," I mumbled. Pissing off Janet was definitely NOT in my best interests right now so I decided it might be best if I just kept my mouth shut and took it like a man. Yep, I was definitely back home among my friends. The knowledge that I would be leaving them behind soon saddened me, but being the soldier that I was, I knew I would carry out my orders. For now, though, I could revel in the feeling of being wanted and needed here.

My body still felt as limp as a wet dishrag and my headache hadn't gone away either. Based on my own past experience with my sessions with Thor, I realized that if I got up and tried to act like nothing had happened, I'd just pass out someplace else in front of witnesses. Then Doc would have to cart my sorry ass right back down here with my team acting as an escort. And I would have Thor, my boss and Fraiser all mad at me for calling attention to myself like that.

Not to mention that it would be adding yet another snag to an already complicated operation. It made absolutely no sense to at all add fuel to the already thriving rumor mill here on base. Plus, I didn't want to put anyone in the position of having to come up with a plausible explanation of why I was blacking out like that. It's not as if we could use the old 'he fainted because he's pregnant' excuse.

Yeah, the Infirmary was definitely the best place for me to stay right now, so I settled back on the bed and let the Doc do her job. As I drifted off to sleep, I was hopeful that I wouldn't dream about mine.

The End

****

Title: "Descending Jack" Part 4 of the "Becoming The Fifth Race" Series

Author: dinkydow

Email: jd3031socket.net

Category: Missing scene for "Abyss" from Jack's point of view, Drama, action- adventure, angst, sequel to "Designing Jack".

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Mainly from **"**Abyss". Small one from "Frozen".

Warnings: Jack gets mad and swears. He also relives some of Baal's torture.

Summary: Thor helps Jack find his way home after escaping from Ba'al.

****

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own any of them. Couldn't afford to if I did and don't have a mountain to hide them in. Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions do. I wrote this for entertainment and won't be making any money for it. (heavy sigh).

Author's Notes: Huge honkin' thank you's go out to my husband Jerry and my friend Alice for helping me out with this thing. You've both been so supportive of me and my writing. The Asgard character of Eir (Ernie), is mine, though. If you want to use him (her, it, whatever), please get my permission first. Yes, I do like to hear from other fans who read my stuff. It's the only form of payment I get, so please send me feedback.

We were running. The halls seemed endless and it was hard to see more than few feet in front of us due to the flickering lights and smoke. A young woman dressed in black was running beside me and looked as terrified as I felt. The ground beneath us shook with the force of another explosion and slammed us to the floor, where we both lay for a moment, gasping for breath. Muffled sounds of shouted orders sounded in the background. I tried to pinpoint the direction the sounds were coming from, but was having trouble hearing above the rasping of my breath and the pounding of the heart in my chest. I checked to make sure the zat was still tucked in the back of my pants. It was still there, thank God! At least we weren't completely at that bastard's mercy now. Not that he ever had any. Mercy, that is. If he did, I sure never saw it. Since I had no idea where we were or how to get out of this hellhole, I was hoping maybe my companion did. I was so out of breath, I only managed to gasp out one word.

"Where?" I panted. Crap, I thought I was in better shape than this. The woman on her hands and knees beside me gave me a panicked look.

"My Lord Ba'al will find us."

"No, he won't! Where is the Stargate?" It was hard to hear each other over the sound of explosions and shouting. Managing to pull myself up and lean against the wall, I tried to ignore the fact that I was still out of breath and shaking. Damn, this was so not me! Coughing out the acrid smell of smoke in my throat, I pulled my companion towards me.

"We have to get to the Stargate!" I shouted in her ear and tried to give her my most encouraging smile. It turned into another cough when I breathed in some more smoke.

Ducking my head, I grabbed her hand and took off at what was supposed to be a run. Actually, it was more like a fast stagger. By now, the smoke was so thick we were feeling our way down the hall with one hand tracing the wall. The ground seemed to be sloping upwards and I hoped that meant it led out of Baseball's fortress. As I stumbled along, I kept trying to access the memories that my former snake roommate, Kanan, had of this place, but wasn't having any luck. You know, when I told Mr. Bocce Ball that I didn't know anything about the ex-snake that had been in my head, I really hadn't been kidding around. Pausing a moment to catch my breath, I turned to the woman beside me.

"Do you know where we are now?" I asked. She nodded her head yes but said nothing more. I gave her one of my patented O'Neill looks, the one where I raise my eyebrows and glare.

"And?"

"This corridor leads outside to the Jaffa practice field. Beyond that is the path leading to the Stargate."

"Come on then. It's time to go!"

Suddenly the floor beneath our feet bucked and we were slammed to the ground again. The sound of explosions was loud all around us and bits of ceiling were raining down on top of us. Desperately, I scrambled to my feet and turned to grab onto the arm of my companion again.

"We gotta get out of here now!" I screamed. Buoyed by a surge of adrenalin, we both surged ahead. Finally, we emerged from the smoky hallway into a dark courtyard filled with running men. No one seemed to be paying any attention to us, so we just kept going. By now, we were completely covered in the rancid-yellow colored dust that made up the walls of that bastard's outpost, as was everyone else we saw. The night sky was filled with bright orange explosions and the sound of strafing death gliders. I hoped they kept concentrating on the house of death that we were leaving behind us. The woman beside me tugged my arm to get my attention and pointed off to the right.

"It's that way."

I smiled and nodded to show my understanding and veered off in the new direction. Most everyone else seemed to be headed back towards the stronghold, so we were alone by the time we reached the trees. Noticing she was lagging behind, I slowed my pace allowing her to catch up. We couldn't afford to get separated at this point. By now I could remember where I was and realized it was only about half a mile more to the Stargate. I had to bend over double, panting to catch my breath, and wiped away the sweat from my forehead. Trying to ignore the fact that my head was pounding, my knees felt like they were going to give out any minute, and I just generally felt like crap, I gave her a weak smile.

"We're almost there. Then we can blow this Popsicle stand for good." I grabbed her hand again in preparation for starting out again. I wasn't really sure what destination I would dial up yet, but figured I would cross that bridge when we came to it. For one thing, I knew I couldn't dial home because I had no GDO. Without the code, the iris would stay closed and yours truly would end up doing an imitation of a bug splat on a windshield. Not exactly the way I wanted to end my days, no thank you very much. So Stargate Command was definitely a no-go.

Gating to the Tok'ra home world was out too. There was no way in hell I would put myself into their snaky hands again after the way that supposedly tame snake hijacked my ass and then left me high and dry with a Marquis-de-Sade wannabe. Different destinations kept running through my head as we headed down the path. Up ahead, I could make out the flickering lights of torches and excited voices that sounded like Jaffa. Crap. This was so not a good sign.

I slowed my pace and led her off the path. Motioning her to join me, we crouched, trying to see through the brush. It looked like they had posted a guard at the Gate. Double crap. I was not a happy camper. Now what? I sank to the forest floor and rested my hands on my knees. The adrenaline rush had faded by now and my whole body was bathed in sweat and shaking. The woman beside me copied my pose and put her hand on my shoulder. Whether it was to get my attention or an attempt at reassurance, I'll never know, because we were suddenly surrounded by white light.

When the light faded, I instinctively kept my eyes closed to give them a chance to get readjusted to the reduction in the brightness of the light, and grabbed my zat from the back of my pants. Holding my breath, I tried to use my other senses to figure out who had caught us this time. Since I hadn't heard the sound of transport rings, I was hoping a snake hadn't gotten us both.

Daniel was all white and glowy the last time I saw him, but he'd made it pretty clear that he wouldn't beam me out of that hellhole I was trapped in. That left only Thor and his Asgard pals, but with the way my luck had been running lately, I wasn't willing to bet on it being him.

In the past few weeks I'd traveled to Antarctica with my team, voluntarily this time, and froze my ass off again. Then we all caught an alien virus off some Ice Girl and she dropped dead after curing everybody but me. So they shipped me back to the SGC in a box, only I wasn't dead yet. Yet being the operative term.

Then, surprise, surprise, up pop the Tok'ra with a spare snake with a whole honkin' bunch of Intel and no way to get at it because the previous host died. They said, no body, no talkie since even their snakes can't talk without a host. Carter convinced me to let them put the snake in my head to save my life. She said it would only be a temporary thing and they really need the Intel their snake had. Against my better judgment, I agreed to this and they boxed me up again and shipped me off to Tok'ra land where I got snaked. After all, it was only a temporary gig. Right?

So, this snake, Kanan, cured me and I let him borrow my body so they could pump him for all the information he'd gathered before he got his last host killed. That should've told me something right there. But nooo, O'Neill, you had to get all noble and do the right thing. So you let them put a snake in your head despite the very fact that one of your number one rules of all time is to NEVER, EVER let them put a snake in your head.

Then when you come to, you have a huge smoking hole in your shoulder and you're laying face down in the mud watching your ex-roommate slither it's snaky self out of town leaving you to face the music. To top it all off, you've got a whole bunch of pissed off Jaffa you've never seen before using you for target practice. Did I have issues? Oh you betcha.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and nearly jumped out of my skin, Opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was a metallic gray surface. Realizing I was kneeling on the floor, I turned to look for the owner of the hand. It was my female companion, Shallan, Kanan's girlfriend. One of the few memories that he'd left me with was the fact that he had loved her. That was why he'd taken us both back there to that snaky-ass bastard's Fun House. He hadn't wanted to leave her behind. Now where did I hear that line before? Crap. I hope he didn't learn that one from me.

I took the chance to dart a quick glance around and realized my luck had finally changed for the better. From the way the room was built, I guessed I was on an Asgard spaceship. Hopefully, I'd see my old buddy, Thor soon. That is, provided they'd been able to fix him up. He hadn't looked so good the last time I saw him. Shallan was silent, and from the look on her face, she didn't know what to think about her changed situation.

"It's OK. We're among friends," I murmured quietly, taking her in my arms for a quick, reassuring hug. She resisted at first, and then I could feel her body relax against mine. Then she pulled back to look at me again.

"Is it really you? You look so different."

"Kanan is gone, Shallan. I think he's dead, but you're the reason he came back. He couldn't leave you there in that place because he loved you." She collapsed in my arms again and her tears fell on my shoulder where she rested her head.

"My lord Ba'al, hurt you because of me. Didn't he?" she mumbled. She felt me stiffen under her as her words brought back unwelcome memories.

"Yeah, he did. Don't worry. I never told that bastard about you. That was the one thing I couldn't let him know, because I knew he would hurt YOU then. He would do to you what he was already doing to me and I just couldn't let that happen." I sighed and let her fall against me again.

She wasn't mine, she was Kanan's and he was probably dead. On the other hand, at least I could offer her a little comfort for now. Given the position she held as Lotar for that snaky son of a bitch, she couldn't have gotten much TLC very often. My thoughts were interrupted by the swishing sound of an opening door.

"Greetings, O'Neill. I came as quickly as I could after I received the message from Hammond of your need for assistance. However, I was unavoidably detained as other situations demanded my immediate attention. For this delay, I apologize," Thor stated. He continued to walk toward me and I swear, at that moment I wanted to hug him, but I didn't even have the energy to get up off the floor. So, I settled for giving him a weak wave of my hand and a cock-eyed grin.

"Thor! Man, are you a sight for sore eyes! I thought we didn't have a prayer of getting off that stinking rock. I owe you one, buddy." Turning to my companion, I patted her on the shoulder.

"Thor, this is Shallan. She was that snake's Lotar. She helped me escape from that hell-hole."

"I am relieved to see that you are both well. My ship's medical section is at your disposal. Not knowing what your physical condition would be, I took the liberty of bringing one of our experts in the field of alien medicine with me. You both will be meeting him shortly."

"That's great, Thor. Just as long as he isn't a veterinarian, we should get along fine. I think we should probably both get checked out though. Right now I'm not feeling so hot and I know Shallan has had a rough time too. By the way, how did you find me? I thought no one knew where I was."

"Hammond sent a message to the Asgard Council informing us of your illness and subsequent implantation with a Tok'ra symbiote. I regret to say that some time passed before I was made aware of your situation. However, I was able to locate you through the same tracking device we had activated when you caught the thieves stealing the alien technology and brought them to justice. In spite of this advantage, I was unable to transport you to my ship while you were held in Ba'al's fortress as his shields interfered with my instruments. Once his power generators were destroyed, I was able to pinpoint your exact location and transport you here. My ship continues to remain undetected by the Goa'uld due to our cloaking technology."

"Well, buddy, I'm just glad to be here. Now, how about something to eat? I can't remember the last time I ate or drank anything. Evidently getting dumped into that sarcophagus was supposed to take care of that stuff. Didn't do a good job of it though, because I feel like I could eat a horse and sleep for a week."

"Food appropriate for your conditions will be provided once our medical expert has examined you. Now, if you both would follow me." Thor turned to leave.

I tried to get up and follow him, honestly I did, but my legs just weren't cooperating with me. They were shaking again and sweat was rolling off my face. Crap. When did it get so hot in here? I could hear a roaring sound in my ears and felt my arms giving out on me as I slipped to the floor. Hands were on my body, rolling me onto my back. Thor's face appeared close to mine.

"I believe you are in need of assistance, O'Neill."

"Uh, yeah, sorry 'bout that. Really didn't want to make any trouble."

"You will not be making any trouble for me, O'Neill. However, you appear to be unable to walk. Therefore, I will use the transporter to move you to the medical section. Arrangements are already under way to provide appropriate care for you and your friend."

My short, gray, friend left my field of vision. Soon, the familiar white light surrounded me. When I opened my eyes again, I was lying flat on my back on an examination table. The alien leaning over me was shorter than Thor and had bigger eyes, so I assumed he must be their Doc.

"Greetings, Jack O'Neill. I am called Eir and will be responsible for your medial care while you are here."

"Hi there Eir. You won't be shining any bright lights in my eyes by any chance, will you?"

"Why do you ask this? Do you have a particular aversion to light?"

"Only when a certain Doc back home insists on sticking a penlight into my face all the time. I just figured it didn't hurt to ask."

"Ah, yes. The O'Neill sense of humor. Thor warned me about this. Actually, I have been reading your file and have been looking forward to actually examining the famous O'Neill." Huh? More like the infamous O'Neill.

"What? Just how big is this file and how did you guys get all that stuff on me? Is there something you aren't telling me?" Thor joined his friend and stood next to him. Seeing them stand side by side, I saw there were other differences. For one thing, Eir seemed to be more enthusiastic than my friend, Thor. Or at least, he was bouncier in a hyper sort of way. It was the same kind of hyperactivity that Charlie used to get the morning after Halloween Trick or Treating if we let him keep the goodie bag in his room.

"O'Neill. We have kept extensive records of all our encounters with your people. Your case especially intrigued us from the very first time you met our people. Since then, our surveillance of your well-being has been as non-intrusive as possible. We have taken great care not to interfere in your natural development. You cannot blame my colleague, Eir, for being excited at finally being able to examine you. By now you must realize the importance we place on your accomplishments, as we have talked of this before." I sighed impatiently.

Yeah, we'd talked about the stuff I had crammed in my head, but it was still embarrassing when they treated me like I was something special. Deep in my heart, I knew I was anything but that. Just an aging broken-down bird colonel who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Or was that the wrong place at the wrong time? Guess it was all in how you looked at the events in my life. Right now, it definitely felt like I had been in a whole honkin' bunch of wrong places at the absolutely worst time ever. The alien version of Doc, spoke up.

"Now, Jack O'Neill. I must ask you questions in order to better ascertain your physical and mental condition. Thor has already informed me of the contents of the message we received from Hammond. It said that you had become infected with an alien virus which they were unable to cure. Is this true?

"Yeah, Ernie. Is it OK if I call you Ernie? You just seem like an Ernie to me," Thor gave me one of his inscrutable looks. Ernie started blinking and bouncing in slow motion again. How did he do that?

"I would consider it a gift of great price if you bestowed your own personal name upon me, Jack O'Neill. Thor has told me you often do this with those you trust," Ernie explained. Damn, from the looks of things, I had just made the little guy's day. I gave Thor another suspicious look, then continued with my narrative. Just what had he been telling these guys?

"We found a girl frozen in the ice at the Antarctic and figured she was a member of the Ancients because she was able to heal everyone who got sick except for me. However, she died before she could tell us anything more. I was kind of out of it by then because of how sick I was. The Tok'ra offered to put a snake in me to save my life, but I turned them down flat at first until Carter told me they needed me to be a host. Seems this particular snake, Kanan, had lost his previous host and had a bunch of valuable Intel to give them about his latest covert operation. Since even their snakes need a body to do that, they offered me the job. When they promised me it would only be temporary until they found a willing host, I told them to do it. So they shipped me off to their base and put the snake in my head. At least, that's what they said happened as I don't remember much about that. They said I was pretty close to going tango uniform on them."

"I do not understand your reference. What is tango uniform?" That was from Ernie. He seemed to be hanging on my every word. 'Yep, definitely the gospel according to Jack,' I thought with a smirk.

"Tango uniform? Tits up. You know, as in dead, pushing up daisies, six feet under, kicked the bucket, meeting the grim reaper. Tango uniform."

"Ahh. More colorful human metaphors. I must remember that one," commented Ernie. I couldn't resist a chuckle. The expression on that little guy's face was priceless.

"You know what, Ernie? I think you and I are going to get along just fine. And I would be tickled pink to teach you a whole honkin' shit load of colorful metaphors," I added with a grin. It was going to be fun introducing the little guy to the fine art of bullshit. Based on personal experience, this was a skill that was particularly invaluable when dealing with diplomats and used-car salesmen.

"My initial scans show no symbiote present in your body at this time, O'Neill. When did it leave your body?" inquired Ernie. Well, the little guy was certainly on his toes.

"From what I can piece together, Kanan hijacked my ass after we got blended. Seems he had a thing going with Shallan when he was spying on her boss. He used my body to go back to get her, but got caught. I really don't remember anything until I found myself face down in the mud with a staff burn on my shoulder surrounded by a bunch of pissed off Jaffa. I think that was the first time I died on them. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a sarcophagus. Then, some Charles Atlas-type Jaffa jerked me out of there and dragged me off to meet the Head Snake."

"Yes, you were a prisoner of Ba'al, a Goa'uld infamous for his methods of torturing his victims. Were you subjected to this?" That little guy's persistence was reminding me more and more of a certain Doctor back at the SGC.

"Well, yeah, sort of. Mostly, I spent a lot of time in a cell that couldn't make up its mind which way was up. Listen, can we just get on with this? Can't you just fix me up so I can go home?" I so desperately did not want to continue talking about that crap. No siree bub. Nope, did not want to go there.

"In order to be thorough, I need to ask you additional questions, O'Neill. In order to spare you, I will be as brief as possible. Are you aware of how many times you were placed in the sarcophagus?" questioned the Asgard Doctor.

"I really don't know. I lost count after twelve. It really didn't seem to matter anymore after that. You know? But I don't think they left me in there as long as they were supposed to because I always came out of it feeling drained and weak, especially towards the last. They practically had to drag me back to my cell. Oh, and they didn't feed me anything either. Not that I would've had an appetite anyway. Being stuck with pointy knives just kind of takes the edge off your appetite. At least it does for me," I shrugged indifferently. No need to let them know just how bad it had been. And as for telling them about Daniel, well, we weren't even going to go there. Definitely didn't want them to think that I had lost all my marbles on top of everything else.

"In order to complete my examination, you will be placed inside a medical pod. This will enable me to monitor all your vital functions as we diagnose and treat you. It would be best if we began immediately as you are already experiencing withdrawal symptoms from your extended time in the sarcophagus," added the alien version of Doc. Well, that explained the shakes and the sweats. Daniel had gone through that once and it hadn't been pretty.

"OK. Just what is this medical pod thingy and how long will I be in it?" I was getting a bad feeling about the direction this exam was heading and didn't like it one damn bit. If anything, just thinking about it made me sweat and shake even more.

"The medical pod is a modified version of the stasis pod Thor has used in the past. It was prepared especially for your use, when we learned of your illness. You are much too valuable an asset to risk losing."

"Yeah, well thanks, but I really need to know just what you are planning to do. I mean, really, it is my body. Of course lately, no one has bothered to let me have a say in a single fricking thing that was done to me. Certainly not the Tok'ra and that Snake bastard. God knows I haven't been able to control a whole hell of a lot lately, so just humor me. OK? What does this fricking medial pod thingy look like?" My voice was getting louder and I noticed Ernie take a step backwards.

"It will involve your body being enclosed in a transparent container which will constantly monitor your condition and provide treatment. This table is part of that pod. There is no cause for you to be alarmed as it is completely painless." With that, the little alien turned to mess with some controls on a nearby console. Seeing that he was distracted, I bolted upright on the table and slid off the side.

"Just keep the hell away from me! There is no goddamned way you are going to put me in a box again!" I warned. My legs were so weak, I couldn't stand, so I settled for scuttling backwards on my butt to put some distance between me and the hated table. Another flash of light and Thor was standing in the room. Ernie must have called for reinforcements.

"Thor, please. I can't do it, not again! Please, just let me die," I pleaded as Thor morphed into my human friend. What the…?

"Daniel? Don't leave me alone, please! You promised me you'd stay this time. You promised, Daniel. Help me die, Daniel. You promised you would. I can't go back there again Not into the sarcophagus. Let me die!"

By this time, I had backed my self back into a corner and was shaking with terror. The rancid-yellow walls of my topsy-turvy prison cell were back surrounding me, and I knew the guards would be coming for me soon. Once again, I was trapped in the maddening cycle of torture where even death offered no way out. My whole body was trembling and I could feel the sweat running down into my eyes. Dimly, as if from a great distance, I could hear someone calling me by name. Wait, that didn't happen before. No one in that hellhole had called me by my whole name, except for my glowy friend, Daniel.

"Daniel?"

"Jack O'Neill. It is I, Thor."

"Thor? What are you doing here? Did that bastard catch you too?"

"O'Neill. I want to help you. Please look at me, O'Neill," he ordered while holding up his hand. I could see a that it glowed and was somehow soothing to me. As I watched it, I realized my heart wasn't pounding as fast as it had been. My breathing had slowed and had matched the rhythm of the thing glowing in Thor's palm. Suddenly, I felt so tired and couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. A part of my head was yelling at me, insisting that it wasn't safe to sleep, but they were so heavy. I lost the battle to keep them open and felt myself slumping over onto the floor. Before I lost consciousness completely, I managed to whisper one word.

"Thor?"

"You are safe now, O'Neill. No harm will come to you. I, myself will watch over you." Then I closed my eyes and gave myself up to the darkness.

That snaky bastard had me on his gravity spider-web thingy again and the hard edges were pressing into the middle of my back, slicing my skin where my shirt had been blasted away. He was using that acid stuff again and his grating Goa'uldy voice echoed in the chamber as he lovingly described what it would do to me and the pain it would cause. A drop sped its deadly way to me and landed in the middle of my chest. Just like with the previous times, I felt nothing at first. It began small, a tingling sensation on my skin, that grew into a burning as it ate through flesh and bone. My chest was a mass of pure agony and I was having trouble breathing.

"The Tal'vic acid will take some time to burn through all the way. Though it cauterizes the flesh as it burns…a very small amount often finds it's way into the blood and begins to spread. Why have you returned here, Tok'ra?"

"I'm human," I whispered obstinately.

"Hmm, betrayed by your symbiote." Damn that bastard! He was toying with me again, and we both knew it. I already knew how this scene was going to end, but couldn't seem to stop it from repeating itself in all it's deadly, pain-wracked, glory. I bit my lower lip to stop from screaming.

"It used me," I moaned.

"To do what?"

"I don't know and I don't care!"

"What did the symbiote call itself?" That guy just never gave up! By now, I was gasping for breath as the acid ate its way through my lungs.

"I don't…remember," I groaned.

"Tok'ra retain the identities of both host and symbiote. You are O'Neill. What was the name of your symbiote?"

"I…just told you," I whispered.

"What Tok'ra secrets could a single name reveal?" he asked reasonably.

"I…don't…know."

"Why protect the one who betrayed you…abandoned you to…this?" Crap. He was good.

"If I knew the name, I'd give you the damn name! I don't care about protecting the Tok'ra!" I rasped weakly. He wasn't buying it and pointed that damn bottle of acid at me again.

"Tok'ra have been a nuisance for centuries."

"Don't…," I pleaded softly.

"Even when we thought they had been wiped out. They've become all the more…insidious. Like…acid…burrowing their way into our empires."

"Kanan! That's the name." I watched as he put the bottle down and then picked up another one.

"I just told you…," I protested weakly. It was getting harder and harder for me to breathe.

"Yes, you did," he said with an evil smile as he squirted the contents of the bottle towards me. I flinched when it hit me and was surprised when it didn't burn.

"This neutralizes the acid and numbs the pain. So you see, the truth is rewarded."

"I don't know anything else." Yeah, as if he would believe that one.

"There may be much more of this Kanan…still in your memory than even you know. It'll come to you…in time." Then he pushed a button and the web thing supporting me gave way. I flipped over and fell into darkness. The last time this had happened, I remembered I had landed hard, breaking bones. It had taken a long time to die, lying there in the dark. I screamed in terror and agony.

Without warning, the script changed and I was no longer falling into darkness. My downward momentum had stopped and a glowing light surrounded me. I felt something touch my arm.

"Dad?"

"Charlie? God, Charlie! What are you doing here?"

"Dad, it's OK. Daniel said you needed my help. That place wasn't real. You were just having a bad dream. You're safe now."

"Oh God, Charlie! I've missed you so much, son!" Kneeling down, I looked into that beautiful face of his and gathered him into my arms. Sobbing, now, I held him like I would never let go, like he was an anchor to a reality that was too grim and ugly to face.

"I've missed you too, Dad. But, I never really left you. Didn't you know that? I've been watching over you and Mom all along."

"Really? You talked to Daniel? Charlie, where are we? Does this mean I'm dead?"

No, Dad, you aren't dead. Daniel said you needed me right now. He says you're sick, like he was that time. Remember? He said you were there for him then. You're still alive and your funny-looking friend, Thor is helping you. You're on his spaceship.

"Yeah, son, I remember when Danny was sick. So, I got addicted to the sarcophagus just like he did. That's not surprising, as many times as I got dumped in that thing. Charlie, how do you know about Thor? And if I'm not dead, then where am I?"

"I told you, Dad, I've been watching over you and Mom all along. I was there with you when you went through the Stargate the first time. I was at your side when you first met Thor because I love you, Dad. Being dead didn't change that. I still love you and I won't ever stop."

He was in my arms again and I don't know who was crying more. It shook me up a little to realize that my young son had been with me through some of my darkest days. The thought that he had watched me being killed over and over again in that snake's pleasure palace made my skin crawl. There are some things that kids just shouldn't be exposed to. Being hit and abused and watching your Dad die horribly were a few things that were at the top of that list.

"Dad, we're not in heaven. Daniel says we're on another plane, and that you would understand what that meant. Dad, there's a reason why you aren't in heaven yet."

"I know, son. You don't have to explain that to me, and I think I understand where we are now. Even if I never make it to heaven where you are, I'm just so glad that we can have this time together. I've missed you so much, son. It's been like an ache in my heart."

"I've missed being with you too, Dad. Listen to me. The reason you aren't in heaven isn't what you're thinking. It's because you can't die yet. You have something real important to do, so no matter what, you can't give up."

Charlie? What do you mean? What do I have to do?"

"I can't tell you, Dad. Honest, I wish I could, but I can't. But, it's really cool and it will help people. That's all I can say, Dad. Hey, you know what? I'm so proud of you! You're still the best Dad ever!"

"Oh Charlie. What did I ever do to deserve such a great kid as you?" By now, I was kneeling in front of him and we were just looking at each other. He had on that same striped t-shirt that he loved, sneakers, and a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee. He'd gotten that hole when he slid into home base the month before he died. Yeah, when I killed him.

"Dad, no! You didn't kill me. Please, listen to me. It wasn't your fault. It was an accident."

"You don't understand, son. It was my gun and I should've had it locked up. The one time I forgot to lock that drawer was the time when you died. I can never forgive myself for that, Charlie. I was responsible for your safety and I failed. That failure ended up killing you."

"Pay attention to what I'm saying, Dad. You did lock that drawer, but I found the key and I loaded the gun, just like they did on those cop shows on TV. It wasn't your fault, Dad. It was an accident. Honest." He was holding the sides of my face and those beautiful eyes of his were boring straight into my skull. He looked so serious and earnest. Could he be telling me the truth? Wait a minute, ghosts can't lie? Can they?

"I'm not lying to you, Dad. You taught me to always tell the truth." He smiled mischievously at the puzzled look on my face.

"Yep, I can read your mind. Pretty cool, huh."

"It's pretty cool alright. Everything? You can see all that stuff I've got in my head? Even the complicated stuff?" Now that was a scary thought.

"Yeah, Dad. Even that stuff from the Ancients. I don't understand most of it, but I can see it's there." His grin was so big it was nearly splitting his face in two. Probably from watching his Dad's jaw hit the floor a couple of times. Dumbfounded, yeah, that was how I was feeling right now, and a little humble too. I mean, I had a pretty neat kid here.

"Wow, Charlie. That's great. I can't understand most of that stuff either, especially the base eight math. So, what do you think of your old man's job, huh? Is that Stargate a sweet roller coaster ride, or what?"

"It is just too cool, Dad. It reminds me of that time we rode the roller coaster at Six Flags. Remember? Mom went too, and she threw up all over the place after we got off," he giggled. God, it was so good to hear that sound. It had always been such a cute, innocent giggle, the kind that goes with kids, dimples, and corny knock-knock jokes.

"Yeah, I remember that ride. Your Mom was pretty mad at us when we laughed at her. We had a lot of fun that day. Didn't we?"

"Dad. You never did tell me your answer. You know, about how I want you to stop blaming yourself for what happened. Please, Dad? Could you do that for me? Because it hurts to see you blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault at all. I can't rest easy when I see you like that because I just want you to be happy." Crap, the things he thought of. Could I do what he asked? I just didn't know.

"Charlie, I don't know if I can do that, but I will give it a try. OK? That's the best I can do."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Pinky swear?" as he held out his little finger out to me in an old ritual of ours. I smiled and extended mine to wrap around his.

"Pinky swear, Charlie." Suddenly we weren't alone. Daniel was all glowy and standing next to us.

"Charlie? I take it you've already met my friend, Daniel."

"Yeah, Dad. He's kind of funny when it comes to his rocks, but he's OK for a grown up," he answered with a grin. Yep, that kid was definitely a chip off the old block.

"Don't tell me you still mess with rocks. You're dead, Daniel. Can't you just give it a rest sometime?" We were all grinning now.

"Artifacts, Jack, they're artifacts. At least now I don't have you bugging me to hurry up and finish such important research," Daniel responded. Then both of them quit laughing and put on a sober face.

"You didn't come here to talk about rocks. Did you, Daniel?"

"No I didn't, Jack. Charlie and I have to go now, but remember we will still be around, watching out for all of you."

"Do you have to? I mean, you just got here. What's the rush?" I complained. It felt so good to be with my son again and I really didn't want to go back to the world that was waiting for me.

"Yes, Jack, we have to go, but I do want to tell you that Charlie was right. You can't die yet, because you have too much to do. Your journey isn't over yet."

"Dad? I really do have to go now. I'll keep watching over you and Mom. Just remember that I will always love you, no matter what," he said solemnly. Grabbing him in my arms, I sobbed.

"Oh Charlie. I love you too and I don't want you to go. Please, can't you stay just a little while longer?"

"I'd like to Dad, but I can't. I have to go."

"OK, son. I understand," I murmured into his shoulder. Crap, the tears wouldn't stop flowing. He kissed me on the cheek and I gave him one back.

"Bye, Dad. I love you." and then they were both gone.

"Good-bye Charlie, backatcha kid," I said to the empty air where my son had stood only a second before. Daniel was gone too. Alone. I was alone once again. Then the realization of what my son had said to me rocked me back on my heels and I scrubbed my face with my hands. No, not alone. Charlie had told me that he would always be there with me. So what if I couldn't see him. No biggie, I just had to remember that he was still there with me. Closing my eyes, I slumped.

When I opened my eyes again, it was to see bright lights surrounding me. For a moment, I panicked, thinking I was back in the sarcophagus. Wait a minute, Charlie had said those images weren't real, that I really was on Thor's ship. So the lights must mean I was in his medical pod thingy. Whirring and beeping sounds I had always associated with the Infirmary filtered through to my ears and I let out a long breath. Not the sarcophagus. The panel above my head slid away, revealing two bug-eyed aliens looking at me.

"O'Neill, We are pleased to see that you have awakened."

"Thor?" I croaked. Crap, my mouth was so dry I could hardly swallow.

"Water," I whispered. Thor's friend must have been a mind reader as a cup of ice chips was shoved under my nose. Gingerly, Ernie picked out a piece and slipped it into my open mouth. Savoring the feel of moisture trickling down my throat, I closed my eyes to relish the sensation.

"How are you feeling, O'Neill?" asked the Asgard Doctor peering down at me. At least he hadn't suck a penlight into my eyes yet.

"Peachy, just peachy, Ernie," I muttered. At least his time my voice didn't sound like a bullfrog doing a Janis Joplin imitation.

"Peachy? Ah, another colorful metaphor. According to our data, your bodily functions are within normal parameters. However, there is still a pronounced chemical imbalance caused by your prolonged exposure to the sarcophagus. One symptom of this imbalance is severe mood swings. Your body has been adequately hydrated and blood levels are back within normal limits. You may not have realized it, but even though the sarcophagus revived you, your blood supply had been seriously depleted," explained Ernie seriously.

"Ya think? Well I guess that's what happens when you get stuck with pointy objects and bleed to death over and over again," I retorted. Both my friends seemed to go a little pale at what I said. Crap. The last thing I needed to do was to gross them out. After all, they were just trying to help out. It wasn't their fault that bastard made Jack the Ripper look like a Sunday school teacher.

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you guys. You're not the ones that I'm pissed at. Not by a long shot. I know you're just trying to help and here I am, being a real pain in the ass."

"Do not concern yourself with our welfare, O'Neill. We recognize that you have cause to feel much anger toward those who have harmed you," admonished Thor. "Your reaction is one that we have expected to observe."

"Yeah, well, I still don't need to be taking it out on you guys. You're the ones that bailed my sorry ass out of that joint. If it hadn't been for you beaming me and Shallan up…" I let my voice trail off and shuddered.

"By the way, where is she? She's OK, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is recovering in another room and has expressed a desire to return to the Tok'ra. However, she will not need as much medical attention as you. For whatever reason, she was spared the torture that you seem to have experienced," Can you explain this to us?" inquired Thor.

"He never found out about her." Spurred on by their questioning looks, I hastened to explain further.

"By that I mean, I didn't tell Ba'al that Kanan loved her. I came pretty close, but I managed to keep that information away from him. If the power generators hadn't gone out when they did, I probably would've spilled my guts to him the next time he had me on that spider web gravity thing of his." That confession took a lot out of me, and I closed my eyes, shutting out the looks of condemnation I knew would be mirrored in their black eyes. So much of the great O'Neill mystique. Oh well, it was time they got a good look at just how much of a gutless wonder I really was. Wearily, I opened my eyes when I heard my friend Thor speak.

"O'Neill, you have done nothing to be ashamed of. As you would say, you are only human. You have been through a horrific and trying ordeal. One which I would never wish to be subjected to. You have truly survived this with honor. I, myself do not know if I would have done as well as you."

I closed my eyes and turned my head away from them. They just didn't understand. That bastard had broken me and I would have sung like a canary the next time he had me up there on that web. It was just pure dumb luck that it didn't happen.

"O'Neill, I must ask you yet another question," apologized Thor.

"Sure buddy, what is it?"

"Has Ba'al become aware of the knowledge of the Ancients you possess.?" I had to hand it to the guy. That was one diplomatic way of asking if I had spilled my guts. At least I could feel good about that.

"No, Thor. He never even asked about it. The snake was more interested in what I knew about the Tok'ra. I don't think he knew enough about me to even ask about it. Guess I lucked out there." Thank God for small favors.

"Then it was fortuitous indeed that we were able to extract you from his domain. However, I do have welcome news for you. While you were in treatment, we notified your General Hammond of your whereabouts. He seemed quite pleased to hear that you were safe with us. We should arrive at your world in about twelve more of your hours," added Thor.

"Sweet. It'll be good to get back to the base again. I've missed those folks," I murmured as my eyes slid shut. It was becoming harder and harder to keep my eyes open again. My friends seemed to understand.

"Your medical treatment is not yet completed. More time will be required in the pod to counter the effects of the sarcophagus. I hope this will not cause you alarm, O'Neill," added the Doctor worriedly.

"S' OK, Ernie," I whispered, as I lost the battle and gave myself over to the darkness I craved.

This time, my sleep was dreamless. I'm not sure if I had Charlie and Daniel to thank for that small miracle or if the Asgard pod had something to do with it. Irregardless of who or what brought about that healing sleep, I was grateful and not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. That was the kind of rest I needed, and probably did more to restore me to a semblance of the man I had been before. Yeah, a whole honkin bunch of befores. Before the virus, before the snake in the head, and…before Ba'al.

Finally, I'd gotten to the point where I could at least think and say that bastard's name. Maybe the talk I had with Charlie and Daniel had something to do with that. The realization that my son had seen me killed and revived again so many times at the hands of that bastard had really shaken me up. However, at the same time, it was curiously liberating to know that even though your own kid had seen you at your absolute worst, he still thought you were the greatest. That really meant a lot to me.

The next time I awoke, it was to see the ceiling of the Asgard room I was in. The pod lid was gone, so I guess that meant I was doing better this time around. Listening at first, I couldn't hear anyone around me, so I tried levering my arms under me in preparation to sitting up. So far, so good. Not much of a head rush when I got that far, but I still couldn't see anyone. So on to step three, sitting up in bed.

Easy as pie. Right, O'Neill? Been doing it since you were knee high to a grasshopper. Yep. Piece of cake. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself up into the sitting position. It was then that I made a rather unnerving discovery, one that I should have made before. The only reason I can think of to explain why I hadn't noticed it before was because I had been pretty out of it. The room had developed a sudden chill in the air, in fact it was down right drafty in here. Except for a light silvery covering about the size of a bath towel, I was naked as a jay bird.

"Thor! Get in here!" I stayed where I was on the bed, using the all too short towel thing to preserve some of my dignity.

"O'Neill, I am glad to see that you appear to be rested. Is there something that I could help you with?" Damn, the guy was good. All bug-eyed and innocent-looking. I'll bet he was hell at poker.

"Yes, Thor. I need my pants. Us humans have a thing about traipsing around in our birthday suit in front of God and the universe. So yes, please, since I don't plan on marrying you any time soon, I would like to have my clothes back." There, I asked nice. Didn't I?

"We removed the clothing you were wearing and deemed it to be inadequate for your needs due to the damage done to it during your incarceration. We were also reluctant to expose you to such a grim reminder of your ordeal. We have no replacement coverings for you at present, O'Neill. However, I have been assured by your General Hammond and Doctor Fraiser that they are even now preparing appropriate clothing for you. When all preparations are complete, it will be transported to this room for your use."

"Wait, a minute. You said you'd been talking to Hammond and Fraiser? Just where are we, Thor?" I was so excited, I tried to jump off the bed, but the sudden breeze was a sufficient reminder to grab the towel thing. Just in time too. I don't care if Thor had seen me naked before, I was not about to expose myself to him, at least not in that way. There were some limits to the "getting to know each other better" gig. Weren't there? Damn well better be!

"We are presently in orbit around your home planet of Earth and arrived approximately two of your hours ago. Eir suggested it would be beneficial for you to continue with your treatment as you seemed to be resting comfortably. Hammond has been kept informed about your condition and suggested you be transported directly to the Infirmary. Of course, Eir and I will accompany you to your facility. He has expressed a desire to consult with your Dr. Fraiser about your continuing medical needs."

"You mean I'm going home? That's great, Thor. So, why do I have to go back to the Infirmary? You guys fixed me all up. Didn't you?"

"O'Neill, while it is true that most of the physical injuries your body suffered have been addressed, Eir has assured me that you still require much rest and nourishment before you are all fixed up, as you say."

"Aww Thor, I feel fine. You don't know the torture that Doc Fraiser will inflict on me once she gets her hands on me. She will just stick a huge honkin' needle in my sorry ass and expect me to eat bad hospital food for days. All I really need is to go to my own home, order in some Chinese food, and drink a couple of beers. Then I'll be fine. I swear."

"Hammond warned me that you would attempt to circumvent the recommendations of my medical expert, O'Neill. You will be transported directly to the Infirmary. This decision is not negotiable," he said firmly. Crap. The little guy wasn't budging. You'd think that Hammond would have understood. Damn him for ratting on me like that.

"Aww, for crying out loud, Thor. I feel fine. See?"

I jumped off the bed to demonstrate just how fine I was. Several things happened at once. My towel fell to the floor, pooling around my ankles. My body joined it a moment later as my knees folded under me. Crap, I thought I was doing better than that.

Thor, merely sighed and trotted over to my medical table as I frantically grabbed for the towel. I wasn't really sure what he was going to do next. It's not as if the little guy could be expected to throw me back onto the table. Not when I must have outweighed him by at least three times. From my undignified sprawl on the floor, I watched as he fiddled with a control on a side panel of the bed. With a flash of light, I was suddenly laying back on the table's surface. Sweet.

"Umm, Thor? The towel too? It's kind of drafty up here, if you know what I mean." I swear the guy was grinning. Don't ask me how I knew, but I swear he was probably laughing at me. Just thinking about it made me blush. He handed me the towel.

"Oh, all right. You've made your point," I groused. "You can tell my boss that I'll see him in the Infirmary. Wait, could you at least have them send me up something to wear besides this glorified bath towel? I mean it, Thor! After you talk to General Hammond, don't forget to bring some pants! We have cultural taboos about stuff like that." Not to mention how I felt about it.

"Very well, O'Neill. I will speak to your General Hammond to make final arrangements for your transfer. When I return, I shall bring you your pants."

I flashed him my most grateful smile and watched as he left the room again. To tell you the truth, I was still feeling pretty weak. As for my mental state, I felt numb, like I was in shock. No feelings at all, I was just there. No despair, no fear, no depression, just…nothing, which was kind of scary in and of itself. I found myself pinching the skin on my leg, just so that I would feel something, even if it was pain. That's how desperate I was to feel any sensation that would prove to me that I was alive. But, the feeling of numbness and unreality remained.

Don't get me wrong, I was relieved to be going home, but wasn't really sure how that would go. I desperately wanted to see my team again. After all, they were my family and closest friends all rolled into one. So much had happened since the last time I'd seen them. As much as I wanted to deny it, I wasn't the same person they had known before all this stuff happened, however long ago that had been.

Between being sick, snaked, and then dead part of the time, I really wasn't sure how much time had passed since I had last been on Earth. It's a little hard to keep track of time when you don't have a watch and can't even use the sun or meals as a way to keep track of the days. I hadn't even seen the sun in I don't know how long. Hell, I wouldn't have been able to do the cliché standby of scratching a mark on the walls of my cell to indicate the passage of each day. It's really hard to keep track of time when you're dead and then revived over and over again.

Funny, how you take so many things for granted. Like living and breathing, for instance. Or, even things like getting up in the morning and seeing the sun, eating regular meals, and having the choice of whether you wanted to go to work or stay home sick. Not that I usually played hooky.

When I was a guest in Ba'al's Fun House, I had no choices. Even the choice of giving up and dying was taken away from me, because when I did that, they just dumped me in the old sarcophagus and revived me again. As good as new. NOT. Only to be dragged off to face his endless questions and cruel smile. When the pain got to be too much or he hit a vital organ, I would let the darkness take me, all the while knowing that my torment wouldn't end with death. Nope, not when that scum-sucking, slimy-assed snake had a sarcophagus handy.

At least when I was a guest at Club Med, the Iraqi goons had to be careful about how much they roughed us up. As prisoners, we all knew that there was always one option left for us if it got too bad. Death. It was final and the one way to beat them at their own game if you couldn't escape. Ba'al took that choice away from me, and I hated him for it. Some day, as God was my witness, I would make him pay for it. Don't ask me how, but I would make him pay.

Now I could go home and try to get my life back to normal, whatever that was. Maybe then I could be just Jack. Not Jack the Tok'ra, and certainly not Kanan's ex-host playing victim to Ba'al's pain-games. Just plain old me. As if it was going to be that easy.

Even though Ernie had fixed me up with his medical pod, the memories of what had been done to me were still there, crystal clear in my mind. From bitter experience, I knew they would be waiting to drown me with their utter hopelessness when I relaxed enough to let my guard down. Sure, they had sent me to talk to the shrinks after Iraq, but it hadn't helped. Maybe I should have tried opening up to them more. I don't know. What I did know was that the memories were always still there, waiting. A few gazillion nightmares later, I knew that only time would dull their impact.

The sliding sound of an opening door distracted me from my internal musings. In walked my two Asgard pals. Timed to coincide with their arrival, the tell-tale flash of their transporter signaled the arrival of what looked like a set of hospital scrubs from the SGC. They were deposited in a neatly folded pile at the foot of my bed, well within reaching distance. Finally, some decent clothes at last! Not only were they from Earth, they were from the SGC. I grabbed them and clutched them to my chest, daring someone to take them from me. The tell-tale odor of Infirmary disinfectant never smelled so good.

"As you can see, final preparations for your transfer have been completed," stated my host solemnly.

"Yeah, thanks a bunch, Thor. Now, if you don't mind, I would like some privacy to get changed," I reminded them. Ernie looked like he wanted to argue, but stopped. Thor must have been talking to him. I really didn't care at this point, just as long as I had some privacy. It's one thing for a doctor to see you naked when he's doing his job, that's part of it. At this point, I really didn't need a peeping Tom. At least they seemed to realize that and were willing to respect my need to preserve some of my dignity and self respect.

"Ah yes, O'Neill, you have already spoken of your need for privacy. We will return shortly. After you have changed into this clothing, we will be transporting down to your facility as your Hammond seems quite anxious to see you again."

"That's great, guys. See you in a few," I added. Then they did an about face and shuffle-glided out of the room. Well, Thor did. Ernie, as usual, did a bounce-float kind of thing. You had to love that guy.

It took a little more effort than I thought it would to get those things on , but with a lot of cursing and stubborn O'Neill do-it-or-die-trying attitude, I finally managed it. They must have been monitoring me somehow, because soon after I collapsed on the bed, shaking and sweating, they came back into the room.

Even if I had wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to stand up, let alone walk out of that room. Guess Ernie was right and I had some more recovering to do before I was back up to par. That didn't mean I had to like it though. Ernie noticed how shaky I felt and headed over to me immediately to check some monitors. He must have done something, because I blacked out then. Damn, he must have slipped me the Asgard version of a mickey. Must be something all doctors have in common.

When I opened my eyes again, it was to see the familiar ceiling of the SGC Infirmary. Finally, I was home. I must have let out a sigh of relief, because I suddenly got an eyeful of bright light. Weakly, I tried to bat it away with a hand, but didn't make much headway.

"Dammit, Doc! Get that damn thing out of my eyes. Is that any way to welcome me back home?" That's it, try for a guilt trip. Who knows? It might even work. Yeah right. And pigs will fly too.

"Well hello to you too, Colonel," Fraiser stated in her cheeriest voice.

"You know I couldn't let my favorite patient down, Sir. It's been pretty boring around here without you complaining and inciting all my staff to quit." Startled, I glanced up to get a look at her, once the spots had stopped dancing in front of my eyes, that is. General Hammond was standing next to the Doc and actually looked glad to see me. Well, I was glad to see him too. If I didn't know better, he didn't look like he'd been getting a whole lot of sleep in the last few days. The paperwork must have been getting to him.

"Good to see you, Sir. Miss me?"

"You have no idea, Jack. We were so relieved when Thor told us he had you. Son, we were afraid we had lost you for good. Do you realize the last time we saw you was about two and a half weeks ago?" he asked seriously. That couldn't be right. Could it? Actually, when I thought about it, and I tried not to, it felt like I had been gone longer than that. Years longer.

"Well, you know me. You can't get rid of me that easily. I'm the original Timex that takes a licking and keeps on ticking." More like you just don't have the sense to know when to quit, Jack. Crap, but I felt so old and tired.

"Glad to see that you're back to your usual charming self, Colonel. Eir has already filled me in on the medical treatment you received while they had you. It sounds like you were in good hands." She grinned evilly and I knew she had a needle with my name on it. Crap.

"O'Neill, while you were asleep, Eir and I were able to update your colleagues on your recent experiences and current medical condition. As you have no further need of us, we will take our leave."

"Gee, thanks Thor, and you too Ernie. I don't know how I can ever repay what you have done for me. I'll be seeing you again soon. Won't I?"

"Of course, O'Neill. We will continue to monitor your progress as you continue to amaze us with your abilities." Thor assured me. Now he as making me uncomfortable again. Crap.

"Yes, he amazes me all the time, Thor," added Hammond with a grin.

"Aww, for crying about loud. Would you guys quit jerking my chain? It's just me here that you're talking about. You know, Jack O'Neill, a broken-down old pain-in-the ass bird colonel with bad knees. Nothing special at all," I groused uncomfortably trying my best to give a withering look to my Asgard friends. It didn't appear to be working. Crap. I tried sliding father down into the bed, trying to escape their attention. That didn't work either.

"Don't you have better things to do than give me a hard time, Thor? Surely you must have some other poor primitive slobs to rescue. Don't you?" I asked pointedly.

"Yes, you are correct, O'Neill, I and my friend Eir are indeed needed back at Othalla to battle the Replicators." Then they were gone, poof, in a white flash. Damn that was a cool effect. Beam me up, Scotty.

"Colonel, if you don't mind, I would like to check you over now that our friends have left. I still have a lot of questions about what happened to you while you were gone." Once again, Janet was all business.

"I don't know how much I can tell you as I was pretty out of it for awhile."

"We realize that, Sir. Thor did fill us in on what he knew and he sent us the clothes they found you in. What was left of them, that is. They're being tested and examined now for any clues as to what happened to you since the last time we saw you." I didn't like hearing that as the story they told wasn't a pretty one. Wearily, I laid my arm over my eyes to temporarily shut out everything. That didn't work very well as far as my memories were concerned though.

"Doctor Fraiser, I will leave Jack in your capable hands for now. Keep me informed on your findings," the General ordered. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I took away my arm and noted that he was giving me a fond smile.

"I'll see you later for the debriefing, Sir," I promised. "I'm not planning on going anyplace for awhile."

"You're damn right, you're not, Colonel," added Janet, grimly as she adjusted her stethoscope.

"You know the drill, Sir. Take a deep breath for me," she ordered as she placed one end on my chest expertly. I complied, knowing she had to check me out. Yep, I was definitely home again.

"General, you can let SG-1 know that they can see him in a little bit. They've been waiting outside the Infirmary doors begging to see the Colonel ever since they were told he was coming back," she commented with a knowing smile. I watched as my boss left the room. So they were waiting to see me. That really wasn't surprising. I knew I would have done the same had the tables been turned. I was kind of glad they weren't there yet as I felt as weak as a politician's promise and figured I wouldn't be awake for too much longer.

"Just a bit more, Sir. Then you can get some more rest. Hold out your arm so I can get your blood pressure. Then, after I get a blood sample, I'll leave you alone for awhile."

"Yeah, Doc, I should have known there was needle involved somewhere. You always manage to stick it to me in the end," I muttered, hoping my statement wouldn't come true in the literal sense.

"Don't tempt me, Sir," she admonished sternly. Oops, not a good sign. I'd only been home for a few minutes and she was already pissed at me. I was so busted now.

"Aww, Doc…" I complained.

"Sir, I'm warning you. Cooperate, or else." Wisely, I refrained from saying anything and just let her get her exam done. Didn't even yell much when she stuck me with her needle. Knowing her, she probably used her biggest one. She claimed she saved them just for me. Yeah, now that I could believe. As I watched her leave the room, I could feel my eyes slipping shut.

Dimly, I could hear voices in the background and saw white light through my closed eyelids. Initially, I panicked, thinking I was back in the sarcophagus, but then calmed myself as I recognized the voices of my team. Ba'al didn't have me anymore. I was back home at the SGC. Major Samantha Carter, my 2IC, was talking.

"Dr. Fraiser says he'll probably suffer withdrawal symptoms from so much time in a sarcophagus, but otherwise, she expects a full recovery."  
  
"What happened to the woman he went back for?" That sounded like Jonas. They hadn't noticed I was listening to them yet, so I just kept on playing possum, not even opening my eyes. Carter answered him.

"Her name's Shallan. She decided to stay with the Tok'ra."

"So she may continue Kanan's fight in his name," added Teal'c. I decided it was time to let them know I was back with them.

"Hey, I'm trying to sleep here." Damn, was I still that bad off? My voice sounded so shaky and weak.

"Sorry, Sir…glad to see you're OK." Carter gave me one of her biggest smiles. Damn, but she looked good.

"Listen…was a good idea you had there."

"Actually, Sir. We all contributed to it," she corrected modestly as she made her way to my side.

"Do you need anything or…," she asked gently.

"Water," I interrupted.

"Sure." Then she left the room, taking the rest of my team with her. Feeling like someone was watching me, I turned my head. Yep, sure enough, Daniel was there, looking down on me.

"I always seem to be saying good bye to you." he stated with a shy smile.

"Yeah, I noticed that. Why don't you stick around for awhile?" Not that I expected him to, but I had to ask.

"I can't…really."

"You just did," I objected.

"Special occasion."

"Christmas?"

"No."

"Ground Hog's Day?"

"Nooo."

"I've got my journey, you've got yours?" If nothing else, I was persistent.

"Something like that, yeah. Look, I know you don't think so…right now. I mean, I know you have your doubts, but uh…because you've been through something that no one should have to go through…I guess what I'm trying to say is…you're gonna be all right."

"How do you know?"

"You're just gonna have to trust me."

"I can do that. You gonna be OK?" I asked. He grinned back at me with that trademark smile of his.

"I'm gonna be fine." Then Carter walked in with the water. When I looked again, Danny- boy had disappeared on me. I watched as she placed it on the stand beside my bed., well within my reach. She had been gone a lot longer than I had thought she would. You would have thought she had to go clear to the commissary just for a cup of water.

"Goodnight," she smiled as she left the room again.

"Thanks," I whispered to the air above me. I knew that Charlie and Daniel were still there, watching over me. Yeah, with time, I was gonna to be all right.

The End

Title: "Distinctively Jack" Part 5 of the "Becoming The Fifth Race" Series

Author: dinkydow

Email: jd3031socket.net

Category: Missing scene for "Fragile Balance" from Jack's point of view, Drama, action- adventure, angst, humor, sequel to "Descending Jack".

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Mainly from "Fragile Balance".

Warnings: Some language because both Jack's get mad and swear.

Summary: Jack travels back to Othalla with Thor to fix his clone.

****

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own any of them. Couldn't afford to if I did and don't have a mountain to hide them in. Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions do. I wrote this for entertainment and still won't be making any money for it. (heavy sigh).

Author's Notes: First of all, I am not, nor to do I claim to be, an expert in human genetics. The last class I took on that subject was back in the seventies. So, please forgive me if I got the that part of my story wrong. My God, Jim! I'm a shrink, not a genetics expert. Whew! That felt good. And now for something completely different. A big honkin' thank you to Alice for keeping me going on this thing. I couldn't have done it without you. The Asgard character of Eir (Ernie), is still mine. If you want to use him (her, it, whatever), please get my permission first. As for feedback, yes, yes! I do like to hear from other fans who read my stuff.

It was official. I had finally lost my mind, big time. As in crazy, whacko, insane, nuts, three fries short of a happy meal, and bats were in my belfry. At least that was how it felt. If McKenzie and his pals at Shrinks 'R' Us, ever got me on one of their couches, they would definitely haul me off to the funny-farm post-haste. But the guys wearing the white suits and waving the butterfly nets would have to get their hands on me first. Yeah, I could just imagine what their answering service would sound like.

'Hello. Thank you for calling Shrinks 'R' Us. In order to better serve you, our customer, we have a number of options for your selection. Press number one if you have Delusions of Godhood. Press numbers two, three, and four to use our group rate if you have Multiple Personality Disorder. Press five over and over again if you are obsessive-compulsive, but only after cleaning off the phone first. If you are paranoid, you don't have to press any numbers, because we already know where you are. If you have amnesia or memory problems, press numbers 9782541036. Remember, you must have all your identification records available. Licensed Providers are standing by to attend to all your mental health needs. Shrinks 'R' Us. Because we care about you.' Yep O'Neill, you are definitely a candidate for the loony bin!

The reason behind the fear that I had finally lost all contact with reality was lying quietly in front of me in a medical pod. Talk about deja vu. It was downright eerie. About a year ago, I had spent some time in one of those things myself. It had been instrumental in the recovery from my little vacation in Ba'al's not-so-Fun House. Now, my teenaged duplicate was in there. But I digress.

I was standing in the Asgard version of the Infirmary on board one of their spaceships. The fact that the ship's name was the "O'Neill II" couldn't have been a coincidence. Who says those little gray guys don't have a sense of humor? Thor had taken me and my teenaged clone back with him to Othalla after learning that Loki had been messing around with our DNA. It seems that little Dr. Moreau wannabe thought my genes could be used to solve the problem that the Asgard folks were having with their own clones. Unfortunately for them, their scientists had hit the Xerox button so often, that the copies were no longer accurate. The end result of this habit was that their race was in danger of extinction. I guess the idea of using good old-fashioned sex to keep the human race going wasn't such a bad idea after all. Yep, it was primitive, but effective. Plus, the fact that it feels really good doesn't hurt either.

So now here I was, standing on board the O'Neill II watching them fix Jack O'Neill number two. Kind of ironic, huh. Yep, Thor definitely had a warped sense of humor. Maybe that was why we got along so well together.

Jack Junior looked so peaceful just lying there. I couldn't help but wonder what was in store for the kid. It wasn't as if he had asked to be put in the position he was in. For that matter, neither had I. From what Carter told me before we left, we had both been shanghaied.

Before Thor took me and my copy back to Othalla for repairs, my friends had filled me in. It seems I had missed out on more than just a few potty breaks in the last week or so. While the Asgard were busy with the Replicators, one of their renegade scientists named Loki had sneaked over to Earth to do some unauthorized genetic research on yours truly.

Evidently, one night while I was sleeping, that sneaky bastard had beamed my sorry ass up to his ship so he could play Junior Chemist with my genes. He hit a snag, though, when the clones he made from me wouldn't come out right. Evidently, what he didn't know was that Thor and his buddies had put a marker in my genes to prevent anyone from messing around with them.

So, Loki had tried to cover his tracks by beaming a cloned copy back to take my place while he kept the original, me, for more research. Of course, when a pimply-faced Jack O'Neill who couldn't shave yet showed up at Stargate Command claiming to be me, my friends were able to figure out something was very, very wrong.

At first, they all thought the teenaged Jack was the real me, but after Dr. Fraiser did some in depth testing on my DNA , they figured out that he was a clone. Not only that, but they had to tell the clone that he was dying because whoever had made him had done a real shitty job.

Teal'c and Daniel had even interviewed a bunch of people who claimed they had been abducted by aliens. You know the type. They're the ones that are interviewed by rags like the "National Whisperer" with a headline like "I had wild monkey sex with an alien and gave birth to Elvis' love child".

According to all their research, my team figured out that all the other victims of alien abduction whose experiences matched mine were cloned and the original had been returned in about a week. So my team set up my copy as bait to trap whoever was behind the clone hanky-panky. It worked like a charm, too. Once Jack Jr. got beamed up to the ship, he zatted the Asgard who showed up and tied him up in one of their pods.

In the meantime, back at my house, the rest of my team showed up in my bedroom only to find the real me sleeping like a log. I'll have to admit it was a little disconcerting to wake up and discover three people ogling me. Especially when one of those people was a blonde-haired female that had been the subject of way too many erotic fantasies. Thank God I hadn't slept in the buff that night and had clothes on! It was bad enough to wake up like that. The humiliation of waking up to an audience naked as a jaybird would have been intolerable, unless that certain female obviously liked what she saw. Umm…yeah. Oh, never mind.

Shortly after I got out of bed, my clone managed to beam all of us up to the Asgard ship. Unfortunately, he did this before I could even go pee in the bathroom. The description of my mood at that point could be described as upset. Make that extremely upset, as in very pissed off.

It was a little scary, not to mention confusing, to see my younger self standing in front of me like that. In fact, it was even worse than seeing my mechanical double after Harlan made us "better". Even though my android double looked, talked, thought, and acted like me, I knew he wasn't alive. At least not in the same sense that humans are. In the case of my clone, he was alive and he was me, right down to the last hair on his head. The only difference was that he was a teenaged, zit-faced kid, and I was, well, way past forty years old.

As if that wasn't enough, this teen came equipped with all the memories, knowledge and experience of a soldier who had been though a whole hell of a lot. The scary part was that he knew stuff that could get him killed. Like that downloaded stuff from the Ancients I had taken several years ago. Him and I were definitely going to have to have a little chat once he got fixed up.

Once we all got together on the Asgard ship, I put in a SOS call to Thor on one of those communicator shell things. It didn't take long for him to show up either. Thankfully, he was able to explain just what had been going on. It seems the Dr. Moreau wannabe was an Asgard scientist named Loki who had got his pee-pee whacked by their High Council for performing unsanctioned experiments on humans. Unfortunately for us, they hadn't kept very good track of the little weasel, and he managed to sneak off to play in someone's genetic sandbox. One that just happened to belong to yours truly. Me.

It really did my heart good to see Thor in his full "I'm the Supreme Commander and you've pissed me off" mode. I must admit I was a little shocked when he spilled the beans about how they had placed a marker in my DNA to prevent any attempts at genetic manipulation. I was going to have to talk to the little guy about that. It would be kind of nice if those little gray guys let me in on their secrets, especially when it concerned my own body. I'll just bet that Ernie had something to do with that.

So, after Thor got over being pissed and finished his lecture to Loki, he decided that the only way to save my clone from dying would be to take him back to Othalla. When it came down to it, I just couldn't tell Jack Junior no when he asked for my help to save him. He looked so pathetic standing there, dying, in front of me. For crying out loud, how could I say no to me? Crap, the shit I get into.

Thor had Jack Junior placed in a stasis medical pod immediately to prevent further damage and deterioration. That was how far gone the kid already was. He used his shell communicator thing to call General Hammond back at the SGC and filled him in on his plans to take me and my clone back to Othalla for repairs.

Luckily, before we left, Thor let me go back home first to pee and pick up some clothes and supplies for me and Jack Junior. I remembered the previous time when he had only supplied me with a skimpy towel thing and was not about to let that particular scene be repeated. Nope, those guys already knew way more about Jack O'Neill than I was comfortable with. No need to put on a show for them. Again.

When we got to Othalla, Ernie, the Asgard version of Dr. Fraiser, met us. He was as hyper and bouncy as ever and insisted that he be called by the name I had given him. According to Thor, ever since they had dropped me off after rescuing me from Ba'al, he had been bragging about his new name. In fact, Thor seemed a little irritated when he told me about it. Who could've guessed that I was creating a monster when I started calling him Ernie? A familiar voice interrupted my thoughts and made me jump in surprise.

"O'Neill. I did not mean to startle you. Eir and I have prepared a program which will explain your genetic peculiarities and what has been done to preserve your clone. He is awaiting our arrival in the conference room." Yep, it was my pal, Mr. Short, gray, and naked, himself. Thor.

"Don't worry about it, Thor. You just caught me thinking. It's not every day that I get shanghaied by aliens and cloned, you know. How much longer will Jack Junior be in that thing?"

"According to our expert, it will be some hours yet before all repairs and modifications

are complete on your clone, O'Neill. We are utilizing much care and precision in the repair of his genes because of how valued you both are. Eir will be able to explain the specific differences in your DNA in the conference room."

"Yeah, OK Thor. As long as Ernie keeps his techno babble to a minimum, I might even be able to follow along. Knowing him, he's been bouncing all over the room waiting for us. Right, Thor?" As he was heading for the door, I hurried to catch up with him. With one backward glance at mini-me in the pod, I left the room. So, they were finally going to tell me all about what supposedly made me genetically advanced. Well, wasn't that special?

"You are quite perceptive, O'Neill. Yes, he has put much effort into this endeavor. Since his first contact with you over a year ago, he has made the study of your unique genetic structure his main topic of study. The Asgard High Council has been quite impressed with the results of his research thus far. We were all quite chagrined when we learned of Loki's unauthorized experiments upon your person."

"Thor, what worries me the most right now is your use of the word unauthorized. Do you mean to say that you guys have been doing AUTHORIZED experiments on me? Because if you have, I think I really have the right to know about this. You know I really don't like being some guy's science project."

By now we were headed down the hallway and he had paused in front of a panel. With a wave of his hand, it swished open to admit both of us. I paused in the entrance to take in the contents of the room and found I was in a conference room filled with a long table and chairs that looked like humans and aliens could use them. At the head of the table was a console with a bunch of shells on it. Observation ports along one wall showed a panoramic view of Othalla and an orbiting space station.

"All will be explained to you by Eir, O'Neill," replied Thor calmly. He trotted over to scoot up onto one of the Asgard chairs. He could tell I was a little hot about that subject. Messing around with my DNA was a definite no-no in my book. Us humans may be primitive by Asgard standards, but we still had a few rights, self-determination and dignity being a couple of them.

"Jack O'Neill! I have been waiting to show you my research. Please, sit down so that we may begin," instructed Ernie excitedly. He came bouncing from the head of the table to meet me at the door. In all my contacts with Thor and his race, I had grown to think of them as solemn, serious little guys who happened to belong to a technologically advanced race. Since I had met Ernie, he had destroyed that stereotype. He was anything but solemn and serious, and I had never seen one of those flat-assed little guys move as fast as he did. Just seeing him brought a smile to my face.

"Hey, Ernie. Good to see you again. Give me five, pal," I said with a grin as we slapped each other's palms in a high-five. Thor seemed amazed and speechless. Secretly, I was hoping that Ernie would try that with the Asgard High Council. Ooh, to be a fly on the wall when that happened. Now, that I would love to see.

"O'Neill, I have been enjoying demonstrating all the colorful mannerisms and metaphors that you have been teaching me. This subject has been the topic of many discussions of human development and communication. I am looking forward to gathering many more examples to share with my colleagues."

"No problemo, Ernie. Stick with me, and you'll see a whole big honkin' bunch of mannerisms we humans use to communicate." I grinned as he guided me to a chair that seemed to be made for people built like me to sit on. Then he did his bouncey-floaty walk over to stand by the console with all the shells on it.

"Jack O'Neill, I have prepared a detailed model of your DNA which shows the differences that make you so unique," Ernie stated excitedly as he moved the shells around. A hologram showing the double helix of human DNA proteins sprang into existence in front of me. As I watched, it revolved slowly in the air. With closer study, I could see that different areas were highlighted, but wasn't sure what it meant. Hopefully, that would be explained soon.

"So that's me? Cool." I flashed Ernie another grin. He had obviously put a lot of time and effort into his little presentation, so I might as well pay attention. Still, it was kind of embarrassing that I was the subject of all his study.

"I have highlighted specific areas of your DNA strand which make you unique. The particular sequence in this area gives you a very high pain threshold. It is believed that this trait has enabled you to withstand all the injuries and physical hardships you have endured." I watched as one sequence was highlighted with an arrow. Wow! Dr. Fraiser would love to see this. Maybe I could get Ernie to give me a copy. She would go nuts over something like this.

"This sequence over here influences your level of intelligence and ability to make inferences based on accumulated data. As you can see, this particular combination gives you the ability to strategize and make decisions based on little information. I believe this pattern has allowed you to conquer many of the System Lords." Sweet. So there was an actual explanation for my uncanny ability to out-think my opponents. Yeah, that was probably a big reason why I was still alive.

"Sweet, Ernie. What about the Ancients download? Is there anything special that let me do that? Or could any human have done it?" I'd always wondered what would have happened if Daniel or Carter had taken the download instead of me. With all their brainpower, it would have made more sense for them to do it.

"No, O'Neill. The Ancients designed their repository of knowledge so that it would only respond to a specific genetic combination. It automatically rejected the Goa'uld and Jaffa, because of their wish that all their knowledge not be used to harm others. Only when you crossed the circle on the floor of their repository those many years ago did their download device appear on the wall. Their technology detected your presence and recognized your ability to assimilate their wisdom and learning. No one else in your party would have been able to activate that device," answered Thor gravely.

"Thor is correct. In fact, this is the section of your DNA, which allowed you to interact with the device from the Ancients. This genetic trait is quite rare, especially in humans." Ernie had highlighted yet another section of the revolving double helix that represented me. My mind was whirling. Crap. This was a bit too overwhelming to take all at once.

I got up from my chair to pace by one of the observation ports. Below me was the black velvetiness of space surrounding an unfamiliar planet that was not my home, a further reminder that I was a long, long way from Earth. Turning to Ernie, I stopped long enough to ask him my questions. I could see where they were heading and didn't like it one bit. The Asgard had to know that we were searching for The Lost City of the Ancients in the hopes that we could find something there to use in the battle against Anubis.

"So, what you're telling me is that figuring out this stuff about the Ancients and finding The Lost City is all up to me. That no one else can even operate their devices if and when we find them. Is that what you're telling me?" I didn't stop there. To tell you the truth, I didn't want to hear their answer, because I already knew what it would be. Call it a product of my extraordinary deductive skills.

"Because if you are, then all I have to say is no thank you very much. I don't want that job anymore. For crying out loud, haven't I done the saving the world bit enough times for you guys? Give me a fricking break!" I shoved my hands into my pockets and chewed on my bottom lip while watching their planet revolve below me. The room was silent. I guess my little outburst had shocked them a little. Shifting my attention, I noted a soft touch on my arm. Turning in place, I looked down into Ernie's up-turned face. For once, he didn't look excited. His look was one of serious regret, and I could see that Thor's expression matched his. That was so not the sight I wanted to see right now. Ernie got my attention again.

"I am sorry, Jack O'Neill. The gene that allows someone of your race to activate and operate any device from the Ancients is extremely rare. In all our investigations and research, we have found no other humans that carry this trait except for you. If they exist, they are unknown to us. Now both you and your clone have this ability. I regret that this news upsets you, Jack O'Neill, but I could not tell you a falsehood in matters of this importance." Then my short gray friend turned and walked slowly back to the console. This was the first time I had seen him move without bouncing. Crap.

"What my colleague, Eir has said is true, O'Neill. We have found no other humans who have this rare gene. Regrettably, this trait has not been found in the Asgard race for several generations. Therefore, we are unable to operate their devices ourselves. Thus, we find ourselves turning, once again, to you, O'Neill. Now, especially with the increased threat from Anubis and his armies, it is imperative that The Lost City of the Ancients be located. Without the information hidden there, we all will be hard-pressed to prevail against his destructive powers."

That meant that it was up to Jack Junior and me to pull the rabbit out of the hat and save the day. No problem there. A teen-aged kid who couldn't shave yet and a worn-out full-bird colonel with bad knees stood against Anubis and all his power. Yep, nothing to worry about. No pressure at all. NOT!

Suddenly, I felt a need to see my younger twin, so I turned and headed for the door. Neither of my Asgard friends tried to stop me, so when the door swished open, I kept going into the hallway. Vaguely, I remembered how Thor and I had gotten there earlier, so I headed off to see Jack Jr. When I got to the right section, I moved my palm over the plate beside the door and it opened. I strode into a room filled with the sounds of beeping, swishing noises. In short, it sounded just like the Infirmary back home at the SGC.

My clone occupied the only covered pod in the room, so it was easy to pick him out. Now that I could see him, I was feeling a little less overwhelmed. He looked peaceful, just lying there. The translucent cover allowed me to only see a cloudy image of him. From what I could see, he was OK. Damn, but he looked so young and innocent. Yeah, I knew he was anything but naïve and harmless, what with the stuff he carried around in his head. But, he looked so vulnerable, just lying there.

At that moment, I knew that there was no damn way that I could tell Thor to put the burden of finding The Lost City and defeating Anubis on those young shoulders. For crying out loud, the kid had already been handed a pretty raw deal as it was. There was no use in making it worse. Crap. He should at least have the chance to grow up first before he had to worry about saving the universe. Better to save that job for old worn-out soldiers like me, huh, Jack.

By looking around the room, I located a chair that looked like it would hold me without dumping my ass on the floor. Wearily, I moved it over beside Junior's pod and slumped down onto it. Leaning my elbows against my knees, I scrubbed my hands through my hair and sighed heavily. Why did life have to be so damn complicated?

A noise behind me made me turn around in my chair. Thor and Ernie had just walked in. Guess it hadn't been too hard for them to figure out where I would head. It wasn't as if I could hitch a ride home. Whether I liked it or not, when Loki made the kid lying in that pod, he had given me someone I couldn't just walk away from. He was more than my son. He was me, only younger. Since I was older, that made him my responsibility. Who knows? With all the stuff in his head, maybe he could avoid making some of the same mistakes I did. I knew in my heart that he could really do something with all his intelligence and talent if he wanted to. Yeah, I admit it. Deep down inside, I knew I was smarter than the average bear. You don't make Colonel in the Air Force by being dumb.

"O'Neill, we knew you needed time alone to consider all that we have told you. I regret that we have to lay such a heavy burden on your shoulders. For you have indeed, already given more of yourself than anyone has a right to expect. It is for your compassion and selflessness that the Asgard honors your name and the primary reason that a spaceship bears the name 'O'Neill'. We will await you in the conference room." He turned to go, but saw that his companion hadn't moved.

"Come Eir, leave the man to his thoughts. He deserves the dignity of some peace and quiet." Then he left the room. But, his companion didn't immediately follow. Surprised, I turned back towards him.

"Jack O'Neill. I consider you to be my friend and truly regret that I have been the cause of your distress. I am very sorry for this and ask your forgiveness." The little guy stood before me with his head bowed. I had never seen a depressed Asgard before, but I think I was seeing one now. Damn.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Ernie! It's not your fault that I'm made the way I am. Hell, you're just the messenger. I don't shoot them, because I know that they just bring the bad news. They're not the cause of it. Now, if I could pick someone to be pissed off at, it would be Anubis and his snaky-assed friends. They're the whole reason why I have to do all this crap in the first place." The little guy still wouldn't look at me.

"Look at me Ernie," I ordered. It worked. His head popped up like a puppet's. I got out of my chair and knelt down so I could look him in the eye.

"Ernie, there's nothing to forgive. You are my friend and I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose. Crap, little buddy. You've hauled my sorry ass out of so much hot water in the past that there is no way I could ever repay you for it. Please, Ernie. Are we still pals?" I asked hopefully. As I watched, some of the old sparkle came back into his eyes.

"You bet, Jack O'Neill. Give me five," the little alien uttered triumphantly.

"Right on, pal," I crowed back as we gave each other a high-five.

"Now, let's go find your buddy, Thor. We have some Goa'uld ass-kicking to plan," I suggested with a grin. Getting to my feet, I left the room with my Asgard friend. Both of us had a bounce to our steps again. Ernie's was cuter than mine, though. It was probably because of my bad knees. Wonder if there was a gene for that? Better not ask Ernie. He would want to explain it in nauseating detail. He could be worse than Carter when it came to techno babble.

Thor was waiting for us in the conference room. The revolving double helix hologram was gone, but I didn't mind. What we really needed to do at this point was talk. We didn't need high-tech projections or holograms for that. The words would be serious enough. No one spoke as we all took our seats at the table.

"O'Neill, I am glad to see you here as we have much to discuss. Have you come to a decision?" Yep, as usual, he always got right to the point. Well, no sense in beating around the bush about this. Might as well come right out and say it.

"Yes, Thor. I've made my decision. We all know it has to be me that carries the fight to Anubis. There is no way in hell that I'll even consider asking Jack Junior to do that for me. For pity's sake, he's just a kid and deserves a chance to grow up. The only way he'll have a chance to do that is if I can kick Anubis' snaky ass back to wherever in hell he came from."

"Although it pains me that you are being forced to shoulder such a heavy burden once more, I am relieved to hear of your decision, O'Neill," commented Thor. "You are correct in saying that we must commence with our planning. Time is growing short. According to our sources, Anubis is even now marshalling all his might for his final strike against us. His super weapons and Jaffa armies may be our ultimate downfall unless a method to eradicate them is found quickly."

"When I left the SGC, Carter was already working on a weapon to fight them, Thor. Knowing her, she won't rest until she comes up with some gizmo thingy that will do the job," I told them confidently. That was one of the main reasons she hadn't accompanied us on this little jaunt. We all knew that she needed to spend all her time working on something to take out the newest snake technology. I didn't envy her the task of coming up with something. Right now, our prospects of defeating Anubis looked pretty dim. That meant it was vital to locate The Lost City.

"Hey, Thor. Is it possible that I might find more clues about The Lost City if I could access all the data I got from the Ancients? I know that there are still parts of that stuff that I haven't been able to fully examine." Both Thor and Ernie exchanged knowing glances before turning back toward me. It was Thor that confirmed my suspicions.

"O'Neill, there is indeed a distinct possibility that the key that we have been searching for is still locked within your brain. Because of our wish to respect your need for privacy, we have not broached this subject previous to this meeting. However, we will be able to assist you in accessing this information, if this is your wish."

"At this point, I don't think I really have a choice in the matter. We both know that Anubis could really kick our collective asses if we don't come up with some kind of defense against him. But there are a couple of questions I would like answered first, if you don't mind. Especially, considering the fact that your little adjustments to my brain usually end up with me passed out on the floor." I looked at both of my alien friends.

"I think that would be just peachy, Jack O'Neill. You may fire away," stated Ernie. As he took in my startled look, he asked his own question.

"Did I use that correctly?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, Ernie. You used it correctly. It just took me by surprise, is all," I answered with a reassuring grin. You had to love that little guy. I'll have to admit I was having the time of my life corrupting him.

"Umm, Thor. When you first showed up after we called you, I remember you mentioning something about my being an important step in the evolutionary chain and a missing link. I think that now would be a good time for you to clarify that little tidbit of info for me. Don't you?"

"Yes, O'Neill. However, I believe that my colleague, Eir, would be most qualified to answer those questions." We both looked at Ernie. He looked like he was in his element again. I just hoped I wasn't in for a long session of techno babble.

"I am glad you asked me that Jack O'Neill. Yes, in fact, your genetic structure does indeed represent an important step forward in the evolution of your race. Initially, we had hoped that we would find the missing link that would enable us to solve the issues we have had with our own cloning program. However, this hope proved to be false. For your own protection, I inserted a marker in your DNA in order to prevent any attempts at genetic manipulation while you were in our care a year ago. Any offspring resulting from you, and now your clone, will be monitored for significant changes. Of course, this monitoring will be conducted with your full knowledge and permission." I was relieved that he had added that last bit. Guess those guys had finally gotten the message about my strong feelings on that subject. Well, it was about time. Suddenly, I had a flash of insight. It couldn't hurt to ask.

"Ernie. Have you ever heard about a little science project that Nirrti had going in the field of genetic research?"

"Yes, Jack O'Neill, I remember hearing rumors about her experimentations involving an entire planet of people years ago. In addition, I believe she was also involved with some unsanctioned research that involved you and Samantha Carter about a year ago."

"You're right about that, Ernie. In fact, the snaky bitch had a lab set up on the planet Hanka. She was conducting experiments on the kids there. We ran into them about six years ago. Unfortunately, soon after we made contact, she wiped out the entire population with germ warfare. She killed off all of them, except for one little girl. We rescued her, only to find out later that the kid had been rigged as a human time bomb that was supposed to blow up our Stargate. Anyway, when she turned sixteen, we found out that she was part of Nirrti's project to develop the Hok-taur. Teal'c said that was Goa'uld for Advanced Tau'ri. All those genetic changes were killing the kid until Dr. Fraiser convinced Nirrti that it would be in her own best interests to use her healing device to save her."

"Dr. Fraiser must have used a very strong argument to persuade a Goa'uld to save a human," commented Thor.

"You could say that. Dr. Fraiser had adopted the girl as her own daughter, so had some pretty strong feelings about the subject. Her winning argument was at the end of a gun. She told the bitch that she would shoot her dead on the spot unless she saved her daughter. I've never seen that woman so worked up before. It did my heart proud." I smiled, remembering that tense moment. To tell you the truth, if Janet hadn't been able to pull the trigger, I would've had to stand in line behind a lot of other people for the chance do it myself.

"The point I'm making folks, is the kid was doing some pretty cool stuff before she got healed by Nirrti. Things like being able to float stuff in the air and shorting out all the lights and equipment on the base. Carter said it had something to do with the electro-magnetic fields in the air. Now, just suppose that her Hok-taur DNA were combined with Jack Junior's. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Evidently, they could, because Ernie had started bouncing again and Thor, well he was blinking his eyes a lot.

"Jack O'Neill, this is wonderful news. Is there any way that I could procure a sample of her DNA for study?" Somehow, I knew they had to ask that question. And if the Asgard had learned anything at all about me, they would know the answer I was going to give them.

"That would be a no, Ernie. You're talking about a kid who has already been through hell and back. She witnessed her parents and everyone else on her planet die, for pity's sake. Give her a damn break. The last thing that girl needs is to have some little flat-assed gray aliens poking around and scaring the bee jeebers out of her. I mean it Thor! If I find out you guys have been messing around with her, I will not be happy. In fact, I will be extremely pissed off. Do I make myself clear on this?" Crap. I just hoped that I hadn't given them a reason to start research on Cassie, whether it was authorized or not.

"Any relevant news on this subject will be given to you by me, Jack O'Neill. And if you don't think I'm serious about this. Just remember that the last person who tried to mess with her was Nirrti and Dr. Fraiser, our own medical Doctor, almost blew her head off with a gun. You might want to keep that in mind. This girl is off limits and she has plenty of people who will do just about anything to protect her. Comprende?"

"Yes, O'Neill, we do understand you and will respect your wishes. However, we would be most appreciative of any additional information that you can make available to us. The ramification of this news is truly stunning. Any combinations of their DNA could indeed provide the missing link that we have been searching for," added Ernie hopefully.

"Well, I'll tell you what, guys. If any DNA gets combined, I'll be sure and invite you to the wedding. Hell, I'll even spring for the cigars and champagne. Because the only way we combine DNA back home is the old fashioned way. It may be primitive, but it's a hell of a lot of fun, and works better than cloning." I'm not sure if they entirely got my drift, but was satisfied that they would keep their promises. Thor hadn't given me a reason to doubt him so far. Hopefully, he wouldn't start.

The way I saw it, if Jack Junior and Cassie ever met each other, they would quite naturally want to spend time together. It's not as if they could talk about their real lives with just anyone. Cassie was an alien living on Earth and I have a feeling that the Toronto cover story she had been using was wearing thin. As for Jack Junior, he was me, only in a teenaged body. He knew stuff that made him an outsider to most adults, let alone other kids. Plus, he knew all about Cassie and her history.

So combine the fact that they were lonely and needed someone they could really be themselves with. Then mix in the fact that both of them were adolescent teenagers whose bodies were gobs of raging hormones. Voila, instant chemical attraction. I figured that if I could just get Junior together with Cassie, well, the rest would take care of itself. Now, I just had to figure out how to get them together.

Of course, I would have to figure out how to keep Fraiser from lynching me too. Somehow, I don't think she would appreciate my clone messing around with her teenaged daughter. Vague memories of previous encounters of the painful kind made me squirm in my chair uncomfortably. Hadn't she mentioned something about an up-coming prostate exam? Oh yeah, and that not-so-veiled threat had been followed by the distinctive thwack that only came from those damned exam gloves of hers. Then there had been those rumors floating around the locker room about enemas and medical instruments that were only stored in the freezer. Couldn't be any truth whatsoever to those stories. Right?

Ooh, maybe this wasn't such a brilliant plan after all, I thought as I continued mulling over my strategy. Umm, what about the possibility of appealing to her compassion for humanity with the spin that Cassie's kids might be the saviors of the human race? Nah. Even I could see that slant was a bit dicey. Oh, well, one step at a time. Gee, I never thought I would be playing cupid. Never went for the diaper and wings look myself, but the bow and arrows were a macho enough image.

"Jack O'Neill, your clone will be awakening soon as his treatment in nearly complete. Do you wish to be present when this occurs?"

"Hell yes, Ernie. What did you think I would say? By the way, when were you planning to wave your glowy hand thing in front of my face again?"

Although, I had addressed the doctor, it was Thor who answered my question. The little guy obviously had an agenda of his own. Well, it's not as if he had an important job or anything. After all, he was only the Supreme Commander of the entire Asgard Fleet and had plenty of time to lay around babysitting primitive humans. NOT!

"O'Neill, Eir will accompany you back to the medical section. I will meet you there after attending to other matters. As you are well aware, time is of the essence in our undertaking. Now would be a fortuitous time to begin our departure for your home planet, because the majority of our business here has already been completed." What did I tell you? This guy had places to go and people, or aliens, to see. Or something like that. I'll bet that guy could make going to the john sound important. Lucky for him, I understood all those big words. Could even use them, when I wanted to. Just don't tell Carter or Daniel. Hell, it's was way too much damn fun keeping up the dumb fly-boy act to just quit.

"Okey, dokey, Thor. We'll meet you on the flip side. Shall we, Ernie?" I bowed and gestured grandly with my outstretched arm. Ernie took the hint and preceded me out the door. The little guy still had the usual bounce to his step and seemed to be taking everything in stride. Knowing him, he had found a way to record our conversations so he could analyze them later.

"Any idea about how long it will take for us to get back to earth, Ernie? Not that I'm in a hurry to get back home. Your hospitality here has been great and the food. Well those yellow squares and pink triangles leave me speechless with wonder." Yep, I didn't lie about that one because their food did make me wonder. Yeah, wonder how in the hell those guys ever survived as a species with such crappy food! Those things made MRE's look like a gourmet dinner with Julia Childs. I've had cardboard that tasted better, and yes, I really have eaten cardboard. We just don't have to go into the reasons right now. OK? But I had choked the god-awful stuff masquerading as Asgard food down my throat and smiled doing it. Who says I can't be diplomatic when I need to? There was just no need to offend my hosts by puking on their shoes. Or whatever. Thankfully, I had packed a bunch of power bars with my supplies. Otherwise, I'd be starving to death by now.

Outside of Loki, the little aliens had treated me and my planet pretty good. Certainly better than our other so-called allies like the "we can't give you any of our cool ion cannons because you're far too primitive" Tollan. Then there were the Tok'ra, our so-called tame-snake allies who wouldn't give us the time of day except when they were asking us to bail their sorry asses out the fire. Again. And as for Anise, the snake who kept trying to crawl down my throat and play tonsil hockey with me, well, I won't even go there. Nope, won't do it. Not a pretty picture. Eeww!

Ernie just kept bobbing along next to me. I guess he hadn't noticed how preoccupied I was. To tell you the truth, I was a little nervous about my upcoming session with the glowy palm thing because every time it happened, I got all wonky and passed out on the floor. The only time I hadn't was because I'd been sitting in a chair. On the surface, the procedure itself seemed pretty simple and straightforward. Look at the glowy palm thing, Jack's brain got a little smarter, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Well, the down side was that the little adjustment hurt like hell, and gave me a headache that lasted for days. Plus there was all the new information to figure out and understand. Let me tell you, being the janitor for the Ancients library isn't a walk in the park by any means. In fact, it's a pain in the neck, literally and figuratively. And if I could give the job to someone else, I would do it in a New York minute. Well, provided they could do a good job of taking care of all that stuff, that is.

Sure, I know that being guardian to all that stuff is important, but it's still a pain sometimes. Now on top of everything else, I had to worry about how young Jack was going to handle having all that extra stuff in his head. Since he was me, and I was him, I knew that he knew what I knew. Crap, you know what I mean. I know how that kid thinks, because he thinks just like his old man.

Yeah, I admit it. I was beginning to think of the kid as my son. Well, he was, in a weird, science fiction sort of way. While it was true that he wasn't my offspring in the usual sense, he was still my blood kin. So what if he didn't spring from my loins? So to speak.

Wait a freaking minute. At least I HOPE that flat-assed sneaky little alien son of a bitch didn't get his DNA sample from my nether regions. Crap. Don't want to go there either, because if that slimy son of a bitch went anywhere near the family jewels, well let's just say I've killed people for less. Moving right along.

By now, Ernie and I had reached the medical section. The door swished open and I was once again greeted by the efficient sounds of beeping and swishing medical monitors. As I walked towards my son, I could see that he was still asleep, or whatever state of consciousness that pod kept its current resident in. The kid looked peaceful, just lying there.

"Hey Ernie, I was wondering about a few things. Just how much of my memories and stuff does Jack Junior have? What I mean is, everything I ever thought of and learned in his brain, too?"

"Sure thing, Jack O'Neill. Your clone's brain does indeed contain all the information and memories up to the time that Loki separated his consciousness from yours. At that moment, he became his own person and began forming his own thoughts and memories. As for the knowledge you gained from the Ancients, Thor and I removed all trace of it from his conscious memory. It is still there, but he is unable to access it. He is much as you were when you initially returned from Othalla. Thor and I concluded that it would be safer for him if this knowledge was unavailable to him for the time being. I hope you are not offended that we took such liberties with him. We were only thinking of his safety as we are very aware of the dangerous beings that are attracted to such knowledge." He looked nervous again.

"For crying out loud, Ernie. Of course I'm not upset with you. If you hadn't done it, I would've asked you to. That kid doesn't need to worry about the NID goons and snake heads trying to get a piece of him. Just getting past puberty is hard enough without having to look over you shoulder all the time." Actually, I knew that my son would be watching his back anyway. Old habits die hard, especially ones that had kept you alive in the past. And the habit of always watching my six had kept me from getting axed more times than I could count.

"That's great, good buddy. I am relieved to see that we have not offended you. Now, while we are waiting, I would like to prepare you for your upcoming adjustment." Oops, now it was coming. Just stay cool, Jack. You've been through this before and you can do it again. Just breathe deep and slow. It's easy, Jack. A piece of cake, a regular walk in the park. Right Jack? Yep, right. No problemo, senor.

"Sure thing Ernie. So, where do you want me? Hopefully, someplace where I won't end up with my kisser eating the floor and my ass sticking up in the air. OK with you?" I asked optimistically. Nah, I wasn't nervous. Moi? Not me. Never. I was as cool as a cucumber. Right O'Neill? Yeah, and if you believed that I had some prime ocean-side real estate to sell you in my back yard in Colorado. The plain truth of it was that I was allergic to pain and those adjustments hurt like a teenage mother.

"I believe it would be best if you were lying down on this table. It is part of a medical treatment pod we designed for use with your species." Ernie showed me over to the waiting pod. It looked just like the one they used on me before. Who knows? Maybe it was even the same one. Wouldn't have surprised me a bit if it was.

I hopped up on the side and started taking off my boots and socks. It didn't look like I would be needing them in the near future, and I figured I might as well save my friends the bother of having to get them off me themselves. I had to admit I was having a little trouble getting my head around the idea of those short, gray aliens tugging off my boots. Plus, it gave me something to keep me busy while I waited. When the door swished open, I looked up and saw that Thor had decided to join us again. It's show time, folks!

"So Thor, are we heading out to the wild blue yonder yet?" At his look of puzzlement, I hastened to clarify myself.

"What I mean is, have we started for home yet? My home, that is."

"Yes, O'Neill, our ship is even now speeding toward Earth. The O'Neill II will arrive at your planet several days from now. That will enable you and your clone to fully recover to your customary state of good health." Thor kept shuffling toward me until he was standing next to the pod. I had a feeling I knew what was coming next and the butterflies in my stomach started doing the chicken dance. I swallowed nervously with a suddenly dry throat.

"It's OK, Thor. Might as well get it over with," I croaked. Damn, when did my voice get all scratchy like that? Sure enough, Thor raised his palm and it was glowing. Finding my eyes riveted to it, I winced as the pain and pressure inside my head reached a soaring crescendo. Then, like water in a fountain that has reached it peak, the pain and pressure found release and poured out of me in the form of a white luminosity, which traveled from my forehead to Thor's upraised palm, where it vanished. I managed to hold onto consciousness long enough to see it disappear, and then let go. Time for Jack O'Neill to go nighty night.

This time I didn't dream. At least, if I did, I didn't remember any of them. There were no visions of an astral Charlie or Daniel. Just peaceful and healing slumber, which was nice for a change. No worlds to save, no wrestling with gut-wrenching decisions, and no demons to chase away. Just peace and quiet. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. I've had way to many nights full of fighting demons with your eyes closed. Waking up from crap like that was anything but restful. It usually left me feeling like I needed a vacation. But, it's kind of hard to take a vacation from that stuff, when it's all in your head in the first place. Did I mention that just sleeping was nice?

I was floating in a sea of light. Slowly, I became aware of sounds. Rhythmic beeping noises that reminded me of home and a certain Napoleonic power monger in a skirt and heels wielding big honkin' needles. Infirmary? Nope, probably still with Ernie and Thor. Couldn't have been out that long. Right? Voices. I could hear soft murmuring voices through the beeping noises. It felt so comforting, just lying there, and I really didn't feel the need to open my eyes yet. Not just yet. So, I remained the way I was and let the beeping lull me back to sleep.

The beeping noises were back along with the voices. But this time, they seemed much more annoying. The kind of annoying like when a fly lands on your nose and you can't scratch it because your hands are full of your sleeping six month old son who just spent all night screaming his lungs out from the croup. You know that if you move to scratch your nose, your son will wake up and start screaming again. So you scrunch up your face, hoping the fly will get the hint and go buzzing off to bug the hell out of somebody else. Only, it doesn't, of course. It just keeps moving its hairy little fly feet all over your nose until you want to scream, but you can't, for all the reasons previously listed.

The beeping noises were getting a bit faster, but were still extremely irritating. The voices were louder and more distinct too, and sounded like my Asgard friends. They sounded worried. Crap, I guess I might as well get it over with and open my eyes. With effort, I slitted them open. Turned out that was a wise precaution to take, because they were immediately assaulted by bright lights. Crap, this was as bad as those damned penlights.

"Shit, turn off those damn lights!" I shouted. Well, that was my intention. I distinctly remember my brain ordering my mouth to shout. What came out was a hoarse croak. What's with this croaking thing? My voice was stronger than that. Wasn't it? I cleared my throat to try again. The inside of my throat felt all gummy, like it had a coating of half-congealed furniture varnish on it. Yuk. Tasted like it too. Double yuk and eww. Someone was tugging on my arm, trying to get my attention.

"Rise and shine, Jack O'Neill. It is time for you to awaken." Damn, but that little guy was just too damn cheery.

"Perhaps this will help." I felt his skinny arm under my head, supporting it as he tipped a glass off water toward me. God, the wonderful taste of water. Honest to God, clear soothing water. There was nothing like it in the world, mine or anyone else's, for that matter. Just sipping at it was washing the varnish taste out of my throat and chasing the cobwebs from my mind. Now I remembered what had happened. I was on the Asgard ship, the O'Neill II, headed back for Earth with my son. Thor had just finished waving his palm thing in my face, with the usual results. The face of the Asgard version of Doc appeared over me.

"Hey, Ernie. How ya doin'?" I tried to give him my best and brightest smile, but I have a feeling that it looked more like a grimace of pain.

"I am OK, Jack O'Neill. As are you and your clone. According to our monitors, both of your medical treatments have been concluded with optimum results," he stated proudly, puffing out his chest.

"That's great, Ernie. Where are we?" I asked while I attempted to position my arms under me. With some maneuvering and cursing, I finally got the job done and managed to sit up in bed. Wow! What a head rush, I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut as I cradled my head in my hands. Maybe that way, it wouldn't fall off my shoulders and roll into a corner somewhere. My throat constricted in an attempt to keep the meager contents of my stomach where it belonged. As bad as the Asgard version of food tasted, I had the feeling that it would have tasted even worse coming back up.

"You continue to suffer the aftereffects of your adjustment. The pain, nausea, and dizziness should ease after a few moments." Promises, promises.

"Could I have a written guarantee on that?" I took my hands away from my eyes long enough to glare at my friend.

"If a written guarantee is necessary, I will provide you with one. However, I thought you trusted me with your care. Do you not trust me, Jack O'Neill?" Crap. Now I had hurt his feelings again.

"For crying out loud, Ernie. It's just an expression. Just give me a minute. I'll be fine. Just peachy, as a matter of fact." He was right, the pain was fading and the room had stopped tilting crazily. My stomach had even decided to cooperate with me. Things were definitely looking better.

I took my hands away from my face and looked curiously around the room. Thor wasn't there, but Jack Junior was. From the smirk on his face, I knew he was laughing at me. Well, I would've been if our positions had been reversed, so it was a pretty safe bet that he thought watching his old man in pain was funnier than a barrel of monkeys. Since he was me, he couldn't keep his mouth shut either.

"Whatcha doin', Jack? Feelin' like puking on your shoes?" What did I tell you? This kid was a real charmer. NOT!

"And a lovely hello to you too, Junior. Having a good time? You know, it's not every day that you can give yourself a hard time. Is it?"

"Yep, as a matter of fact, I've been having a wonderful time. Ernie here, was just telling me that he fixed me up, kicked my tires, changed the oil, and topped off my gas tank for good measure." The smirk was back on his face, but I could tell he looked more relaxed. Not being in danger of imminent death probably had something to do with that.

"Hey, I'm glad to hear that you're going to be alright. You had me worried there for awhile," I answered awkwardly. We exchanged knowing glances before breaking off eye contact again. No need in getting all mushy about it or anything. I looked up as he cleared his throat.

"Ernie says we should be entering Earth's orbit in an hour or so. Just thought you would like to know that we're almost home." He had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. Now that I had gotten a chance to really look at him, I realized he was dressed in the clothes I had brought for him. Although I'd had to guess at his size, it looked like I had gotten it right.

"Home? We're almost home? Hey, that's great. Can't wait to see the place again." My younger twin had a frown on his face.

"Yeah, home, Jack. Your home. But what about me? Just where do I fit in with your home?" His questions floored me. Guess I hadn't thought far enough ahead to consider the unique problems he would be faced with. It was clear that he'd been doing a lot of thinking about it, though. I didn't say anything. Knowing him as I did, I figured he still had plenty to say, and probably even had a solution all worked out. It would be easier on us both if I stayed quiet and allowed him to get it all out. There were some advantages to the relationship we had. Not many, but this was one of them. I didn't have to wait long.

"The way I see it, Jack. We're going home to a planet that holds your entire life. Your job, your house, and your friends, but that's the point I'm trying to make. They're YOURS, Jack. So where does that leave me? Well, I'll tell you where it leaves me. It leaves me SOL. As in shit out of luck, up the creek without a paddle, and the fat lady has sung and left the building with Elvis. I feel like the proverbial redheaded stepchild. Your life has no room for an extra Jack O'Neill." By now he was pacing and gesturing with his hands, but I knew he wasn't finished yet.

"So, I've been doing some thinking." Yep, right on schedule. What did I tell ya? Now, for his solution. Can I call 'em or what?

"Here's where we go our separate ways. From now on, I'm no longer Colonel Jack O'Neill. I'm John O'Neill, a sixteen-year-old emancipated minor who just moved to Colorado Springs. When we get back to the SGC, I plan to ask Hammond to draw up all the identification papers to make it official. You know, birth certificate, social security number, that sort of thing. Then I can start living my own life and let you get on with yours." Was I right on the money or what? To tell you the truth, I was impressed. He had worked out a pretty good plan.

"Sounds great, John. Couldn't have come up with a better one myself. We can probably get Hammond to make arrangements for an apartment for you. The way I figure it, it's the least we can do. I could even set up a checking account for you and chip in with a monthly deposit too."

"But…" As he made his expected protest, I interrupted him. I knew it was his pride speaking, but it wouldn't hurt him a damn bit to accept a little help from me. It's not as if I was telling him to move in with me. Not that I would. He was right, we needed to start living our own lives.

"Ah! Don't say it. It won't kill you to accept something from me. It's not as if I'll be checking up on you all the time. Is it? Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah. We have a deal." He sounded resigned and sad, somehow. Well, I would be too if I were saying good-bye to everyone and everything I had ever known.

"Ernie? Will John have any way to contact you guys if he gets into trouble? I would feel a hell of a lot better if I knew he had backup if any bad guys from my, no our, past came back to haunt him." That was the least I could do. What he didn't have to know was that I would arrange for him to have a little protection Earth-side. It would only take a short chat with my boss to get that little detail taken care of. From previous experience, I knew what it felt like to be left dangling in the wind, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Well, maybe Kinsey, but not anyone else.

"Yes, Jack O'Neill. John O'Neill has already been briefed on our arrangements and has indicated his understanding of them. He will be monitored in much the same manner as you have been." Well, that was a relief. No need for him to keep paying for my sins, even if they had been his too. From now on, they would be mine, alone. We were interrupted by the sound of Thor swishing open the door.

"Gentlemen, we have arrived and are now in orbit around Earth. I have taken the liberty of initiating contact with your General Hammond and he has informed me that all is in readiness for your arrival. If you are ready, I will transport you both directly to his office." I looked at John and raised my eyebrow in question. He nodded his head once back to me to indicate his readiness.

"As ready as we'll ever be. Thanks for everything guys. Be seeing you around. OK?" Ernie nodded eagerly at us and Thor just cocked his head and blinked.

"Fire away, Thor," I ordered as our world dissolved in a wash of white light.

It was a Monday morning and I was chauffeuring John O'Neill to his first day of high school. Over his very strong objections, I might add, but age does have some advantages. Sometimes. Hammond had fixed up all his identification paperwork as promised, and had included a fake school record. We had already visited the school to get him registered the week before. He hadn't liked the fact that I was there with him, but since I was listed as his next of kin, he didn't have much of a choice.

Needless to say, my little chat with the General had gone just fine. John's school record had some pretty impressive, as in good, grades listed in them. They would be high enough to make sure that he got into some of the honor's classes if he applied himself. And I had a feeling that he was going to. Who knows what new friends he could make in those classes? Would I meddle in his life? Me? Never. Not much, anyway.

It helped that Fraiser seemed to like the kid. It was a sure bet that Cassie would too. And since she was attending this very high school and was in those same honor's classes… Well, I planned to leave the rest up to them. I watched him as we pulled up in front of the school.

"You're sure about this?" I asked. I already knew what his answer would be. What it had to be. But I had to ask anyway.

"I've thought a lot about it. And, you know, you…me…I mean we…never really did embrace high school. I don't know. Haven't you ever just wanted to go back and do it all over again? I mean, especially with all you know now?" He just kept looking at me. That was an easy one.

"No," I answered with absolute certainty. It was true, I'd done a lot of dicking around in high school and got suspended a couple of times. The end result from hanging around with the wrong crowd had been measured in missed opportunities. If it hadn't been for a couple of caring teachers who saw through my tough-kid act, I probably would have ended up just like my hooligan buddies, either dead or in prison.

"Well, from here on in, you and me are different. Which is why I'm gonna do this." He opened the truck door and stepped out, turning back to the open window at the sound of my voice.

"Hey, listen. Do me a favor. Huh?" I called out the window.

"Don't worry, I…I wasn't gonna keep in touch." Oops, not exactly where I was planning this little conversation to go. But, it wasn't my place to force myself on him. Not anymore. Crap.

"Yeah, it would be a little…"

"Weird," John finished.

"Weird, yeah," I agreed sadly and looked away.

"Yeah," he echoed. He shifted his feet nervously and turned, as if to go.

"But, look, if you need anything, just…you know…," I added knowing I couldn't just shut the kid out of my life like that. He was my son, for crying out loud.

"Air Force has set me up. I'll be fine," he added resolutely, as if daring me to object.

"You're sure about this? I mean, it's high school." His attention was drawn from me as the sound of giggling teenage girls reached our ears. John glanced at them and then turned back to give me one of the patented O'Neill looks. The one that said, 'ya think?'

"Yes! Go forth, young man!" I smirked and watched as he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and patted the side of my truck. Clearly, he was in his 'I'm a cool dude' mode and had just given me my orders to clear out before I cramped his style.

As I pulled away from the curb, I kept an eye on him in my mirror and watched as he sauntered up to those two teenaged bimbos and turned on the charm. He was getting on with his life. In spite of everything, it looked like he was gonna do OK. Now, hopefully, I could get on with my life too.

The End.

****

Title: "Decidedly Jack" Part 6 of the "Becoming The Fifth Race" Series

Author: dinkydow

Email: jd3031socket.net

Category: Missing scene for "The Lost City Parts 1 and 2" from Jack's point of view, Drama, action- adventure, angst, humor, sequel to "Descending Jack".

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Mainly from "The Lost City Parts 1 and 2".

Warnings: Some language because Jack gets mad and swears.

Summary: Jack is rescued from the stasis chamber but has some surprises waiting for him.

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own any of them. Couldn't afford to if I did and don't have a mountain to hide them in. (The Ozarks don't count.) Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions do own them. I also don't own the cartoon characters of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Marvin the Martian. Ditto with The Simpson's. I wrote this for entertainment and still won't be making any money for it. (Dammit!). ; )

Author's Notes: Thanks to Liz for all her support and her idea for Hammond. It works! A big thank you and hugs to Alice for her wonderful beta and all her encouragement. I would also like to thank all the fans who have given me feedback. Your words of encouragement keep me writing this stuff. Really, really couldn't keep doing it without y'all.

"Dormada, I need the dormada."

I was dying and I knew it. Barring some unforeseen, miraculous, last-minute rescue, Colonel Jack O'Neill, leader of SG-1, second in command at SGC, would be toast. With no sarcophagus waiting handily in the background, and Thor not returning our calls, I didn't have much hope of that happening. As I sat slumped in the Ancients control chair deep under the ice of the Antarctic, my eyes slid closed and my head lolled to the side.

You know, it really wasn't surprising that it had come to this. Sooner or later, this was bound to happen. We had been using up our share of the vaunted SG-1 luck for years now. Finally, at long last, mine had run out. At least I wouldn't be dying for nothing. I couldn't have stood that. Throwing my life away on some useless enterprise would've seemed so meaningless. But I had fought the good fight against the super-soldiers from Anubis and won. I came, I saw, and I kicked that snake's ass. Not a bad epitaph for an old guy, huh?

The day had started out so quietly. The most pressing thing on my mind being how to kick Carter's ass in the crossword puzzle contest. Yeah, maybe betting double or nothing that I could complete it hadn't been the brightest thing to do. But, I did so want to be able to shove the finished product in her face. It would have worked too, if she hadn't taken the time to read my answers. So what if they weren't exactly correct? Details, details. She can be so picky sometimes.

Damn, I couldn't even shave in peace. Daniel was so worked up about finding another Ancient head-grabbing device that he couldn't even wait half an hour to break the news to me. If he had just been able to hold off for those thirty minutes, I could have at least finished the puzzle and psyched myself up for the rest of the workday. But, NOOO! He just had to phone me in the john and ruin my whole fricking day. Crap.

He had seemed disappointed when I didn't get excited about it. When I suggested it might be a good idea to stay away from it, his voice had sounded shocked. What the hell did he expect me to do? It just so happens that I have an excellent memory and I so did not want to visit that particular hell again.

The first time I'd gotten downloaded, I swear I could feel my brain melting and all but dribbling out both ears. That's how much that head-grabbing thing hurt. And that had just been just the beginning of my troubles. The pain and pressure inside my head had only gotten worse as time went on. It's absolutely no fun at all to realize that everything that made you a unique person was slowly being swallowed and destroyed by an invader. So what if all that stuff put you light-years ahead in the IQ department? I'd trade all that knowledge in a minute for the chance to remain me. Just Jack O'Neill, smart ass and friend to little gray aliens.

What Danny-Boy didn't realize was that I already knew how this little scene was going to play out even before we set foot on that planet. I had it on good authority that no one else on my team could operate one of those devices. Safely, that is. If feeling like your brain is going to explode can be called safe. My good buddies from the Asgard, Thor and Ernie, had already given me the skinny on that the last time I'd visited them.

While I was at Othalla getting my teenaged clone fixed up, they had explained in detail about how the Ancients had designed their devices to be operated only by people with a certain genetic sequence. Ernie, bless his little pea-picking heart, had been so enthused about showing me the holographic representation of my genes. According to him, I was one of the few who could activate and use their devices and weapons. Unfortunately for me, that put finding something to defeat Anubis squarely on the shoulders of yours truly. My mini-me, John, had the gene too, but for crying out loud, he wasn't old enough to shave yet.

Daniel did try to take my place at the head-grabber thing, I'll give him credit for that. He almost got the deed done too, but I jerked him away from it at the last minute. I told him that he was the one person that couldn't do it because he was the only one who could be the translator for the poor slob who ended up with all that data stuffed into his head. I hope he bought that excuse. Sounded good to me.

Evidently, this device was a little different than the first one we ran into. The first one had been activated when I stepped through their sensor circle on the floor. Apparently, this one was triggered when a certain sequence of letters was pressed on a tablet on the wall. Depending on how you wanted to look at it, Daniel lucked out and pressed the right, or wrong ones. Hell, since he could read that stuff, he probably knew which ones to press. Regardless of whether it was an accident or on purpose, the damn thing had appeared on the wall and I made the only choice I could. I took the fall and let it download itself into my brain.

What with Anubis and his band of super-soldier goons of doom showing up and threatening to blow us all to hell and back at any minute, it wasn't as if we had a whole lot of time to do anything else. So I planted the C-4 charges on the wall, stared into the thing, and got my head grabbed again. At least I took the time to give Daniel my cap first. It was my favorite cap, you know, and it takes time to break in a new one.

Carter says I was pretty out of it after it finally let go of my head. Go figure. To tell you the truth, I don't remember much about the trip back to the Stargate. Thank God the rest of my team were there to drag my sorry ass back home. I know I wouldn't have made it to the Gate without them and the other teams providing backup because the enemy fire was coming at a fast and furious rate. Hammond looked shocked to see me coming back through the Gate, guess he noticed I was missing my hat. It couldn't have had anything to do with me getting downloaded. Again. Could it? Nah!

I could tell they were discussing my current dilemma when I finally climbed those stairs to the Briefing Room. Note to self: requisition a damn elevator to get to the Briefing Room. Climbing those stairs are hell on my knees. God knows, we all get enough exercise as it is from hiking around on all those different planets, and I, for one don't really need or want any more.

When he saw me, Hammond just looked at me with that look of his. The one the says: "Just what the hell were you thinking, Jack?" Yeah, well, what can I say? It takes talent to get into this much trouble on a consistent basis. Either that or no brains. At least he let me go home for the rest of the day. "The Simpson's" was on.

As for my staying in the Infirmary, well I couldn't stay there for several reasons. One of them was because there was no need for me to. It wasn't as if we didn't know what was going to happen, because I'd danced to this music before. The other reason was because Janet wasn't there anymore and being there just reminded me of that sad and awful fact. I know, I always gave her a hard time, but behind all the crap I gave her was a whole hell of a lot of respect. She put me and way too many people back together, just so we could go back through that Gate and get hurt again. That was one gutsy lady and I miss her so much.

When I walked into the Infirmary after returning from my latest fiasco, I half expected her to be there, reaming me out for getting downloaded again. When I realized she wasn't there to do that, I felt so disheartened. As a career soldier, I know that ours is a dangerous business and people get killed. It just shouldn't have happened to her, not that way. She was the one who was supposed to patch us up. I know that even she wouldn't have been able to fix me up this time, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't have sat up all night with me trying. God, I miss her. Did I mention that?

Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, the General stopped by my house over the weekend, and dropped his bombshell. He said he was being replaced by some civilian broad who knew squat about our program and probably voted for Kinsey.

Speaking of Kinsey, that slime ball had the nerve to show up at the SGC and try to take over. He even went so far as to accuse us of lying about the up-coming threat from Anubis. You know, last year I was accused of being the trigger man who tried to knock him off. Too bad the real one was sloppy and didn't get the job done.

On the plus side, Kinsey managed to insult Bratac. Now that is one tough old bird, and it just isn't healthy to piss off that Jaffa Master. It took years to convince him that he should call me by any other name but "Human", so I should know. I could only hope that Bratac had been insulted badly enough to try to take Kinsey out, but Earth could never be that lucky.

Then it happened. I didn't catch my slip, but, from the expressions on everyone else's faces, they did. Right in the middle of one of my usual flippant comebacks, I used a word that made no sense. A word understood only by the Ancients…and Daniel. He was the only one who had the balls to call me on it, just like the first time it had happened. In fact, the circumstances were so similar to what had happened when I took the first download, that it was eerie. Yeah, I argued with him, insisting that it hadn't happened, but we all knew it had. Probably the one person I was trying the hardest to convince was myself. But, I knew Danny-Boy was right. It had begun to show itself. The Ancients were taking over my brain and Jack was not a happy camper.

It had taken longer to show itself this time. Maybe all those adjustment sessions with Thor's glowy palm thing had helped me build up some kind of immunity to it. Whether it had helped or not, the effects of the download were growing. It started with a strange word coming out of my mouth, here and there. As time passed, the mistakes would grow along with the size of my headaches and the feeling of pressure inside my head.

The next step would involve losing control over my body's actions. When it happened the first time, I had typed a whole bunch of new Stargate addresses into the base computer. After I started talking weird, Carter wouldn't let me get near any of our computers, if she followed base security protocol. She'd better not anyway because I wrote those protocols myself after returning from my first visit to Othalla. With my brain turning all wonky on me, the last thing the SGC needed was me messing up the computers and taking them off-line.

Going through this brain-drain thing is really weird. Although the part of my brain that belongs to Jack O'Neill knows what's happening, it just seems to get weaker and more insignificant as time goes by. The part of my brain that's full of the stuff from the Ancients was growing larger as it went about referencing information and making decisions. At first, the Jack part could veto those decisions so that I was still in control. But after awhile, the alien part got louder and stronger. The end result was that Jack, as in me, slowly lost the power to have any voice at all and gradually became weaker.

The first time this happened, I managed to make it through the Gate to Othalla before the Jack part of me disappeared altogether. Now, I'm not so sure that Jack O'Neill will survive intact. I'm still hoping that Thor will arrive like the Cavalry to pull my butt out of the fire.

'Where is he, anyway? What's taking him so long? He promised me he would look out for me. He promised.' These are some of the thoughts that form and skitter haphazardly through my thoughts. It's cold here, in this Ancients stasis chamber thingy. Ernie's medical pod was all nice and warm, but this reminds me all too much of the time I almost froze to death in Antarctica. It's hard to move around inside this thing, almost like I'm frozen in place. But, my eyes are open, so I figure I must be incased in some kind of gel stuff. Otherwise, my eyes would have dried out by now because they're still open. Right? It's boring just waiting here, though. My brain isn't quiet. I wish it was. It's still humming right along, processing all kinds of unintelligible data as the voice of Jack disappears.

My team mates haven't left yet and I turn my head laboriously to the side so I can see them better. Since my eyes are still open, I can see Carter looking at me and her lips are moving. Can't hear what she's saying, though. She looks like she's crying. Teal'c looks like, well, Teal'c. Quiet, stoic, sad. I can tell that Daniel is upset because he's hugging himself. Hope it's not about me, because I knew what I was getting into.

The first time I sat in the Ancients' Lazyboy recliner wannabe on the lava planet, I knew it would be my undoing. Before I sat in that thing, I could at least hold my own against the rising tide of the Ancients data. Once I sat in that chair though, my battle to save some semblance of Jack O'Neill was lost. The data burst the floodgates I had erected and took over so thoroughly that I could no longer communicate or even understand the people around me except though gestures. My body was no longer my own, it was controlled by long-dead voices from the past. The small part of me that still remained watched the events unfold around me and I felt like I was in a daze.

When the liquid fire was sent gushing forth to consume everything of the Goa'uld, I felt it. I knew when it destroyed the first super-soldier and reveled in the knowledge of the destruction I was causing. With a move of my fingertips, I sent it soaring skyward, seeking out and wiping out those things that had sought to annihilate my home world. When the Mothership exploded, I heard his scream of rage and rejoiced that Anubis had been defeated. Another snake killed, another galaxy saved. All in a day's work for Jack O'Neill. 'God, I'm so tired.'

"Aveo amacuse," I whispered. 'Good bye. Oh God…Sam!'

Maintaining control of those living droplets of fire was too hard. It drained me of all my strength and I'm exhausted. 'So tired…it was too much for me to do. Sleep, I must sleep, even if I never awaken. Cold…so cold in this chamber…it's getting…harder…to…think. Cold…Sleep…Thor? Dying? No…Darkness.'

Light. Nothing but white light around me. 'What? This isn't right. Is it? No. Remember, Jack. Jack? I'm…Jack. Right? That sounds right, but… What happened?' There's nothing but light here, no sign of walls, corners, or doors, just endless, white light. But, somehow, it's comforting.

I look down at myself, trying to remember. My arms are tan where they stick out of the sleeves of a black t-shirt. My pants are green and I'm wearing black boots. That also seems right, although I'm not sure why. Curiously, I run my hands over my chest and feel a rough outline of…what. It's attached to a metal chain around my neck. Hoping that this will provide more clues, I pull it out and discover two rectangular metal tags. They seem familiar to me, so I pull the chain off to get a better look at them.

'O'Neill, Jonathon, Colonel,' reads the first line. Jonathan? 'No…Jack. I'm Jack.' The second line is numbers that somehow seems significant. 'AB Pos. What?' I don't know what that means, but know I did before. 'Before? What? Before…here.'

Puzzled, I slip the chain back around my neck and tuck the tags securely back inside my shirt. 'Dog tags? Yes, those are my Dog tags.' A picture of a furry, four-legged animal that barks springs to my mind. 'Dog? Yeah…and Cassie.' Pictures keep popping crazily into my head, but they don't make any sense. At least, not yet. A sound breaks into my solitude. The first one I've heard since…before.

"Dad?" I spin around to locate the owner of the voice and see a blonde-haired boy dressed in a stripped t-shirt and jeans smiling up at me.

"Charlie?" You're my son…Charlie. Yes! Charlie! I swoop over to him, wrapping him in my arms and lifting him off the ground in an all-engulfing hug.

"Oh, God, Charlie. It's really you." Smiling, I set him down and mess with his hair. It pissed him off, just like it always had.

"Ya think? Of course it's me, Dad." he answered smugly, with a grin as he pushes my hand away.

"It's so good to see you again, son. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Dad. Don't you remember what I told you? Remember? I promised you that I would always watch over you and Mom. Don't you remember that, Dad?" he asked accusingly. I sank down on my haunches so I could better look at his face. God, he was beautiful! Looked so much like his Mother…Sarah? He tugged on my arm, demanding my attention again.

"Listen to me, Dad. You've got to remember." Stunned, I sat back down on the floor and tried to think. Charlie, that was as good a place to start as any. When was the last time I saw him like this? Fragmented pictures appeared of me wearing a ragged brown shirt and holding Charlie. Yes! I could remember that. I had escaped from…. Who? Ba'al? Yes, that no-good, scum-sucking, god wannabe snakehead named Ba'al. I'd been his prisoner and Thor had beamed me up to his ship. Charlie had visited me while I was recovering in that pod thingy. And Daniel. Daniel Jackson had come too. In my cell and later, with Charlie.

Yes, son. I remember now. You and Daniel came to see me while I was in Thor's medical pod. You told me that I couldn't die yet because I had something important to do. And you promised that you would always watch over me. Yes, Charlie, I remember that now." I looked back up into his face. He was smiling that wonderful smile of his.

"Good, Dad. You're remembering stuff again."

"Am I dead, Charlie? Is that why we're here?" I asked. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I wanted his answer to be, because now I remembered how I had gotten here. I knew I was still in that Ancients stasis chamber thing, deep under the ice of the Antarctic. And I also knew that my body and mind were not really sleeping, but were being held in a sort of hibernation. However, my brain and my body were not my own anymore. They were ruled by the whims and knowledge of a people long gone.

On one hand, I was so tired that death almost seemed welcome at this point. Especially if the part of me that made me Jack was gone. On the other hand, I wanted to live. There were so many things that I needed to do yet. Matters that I had left undone. My relationship, or lack of one, with Carter…Sam, for one. The two of us needed to talk about that, and straighten it out, once and for all.

"No, you're not dead, Dad," my son assured me. "At least, not yet," he continued. My heart sank.

"What do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"It's your decision, Dad. You have to choose which road you want to travel. You can choose life, or death. It's up to you," he stated solemnly. I sighed, and said nothing, needing time to think.

"But first, there's someone who wants to see you." Startled, I glanced up toward his face again. Then, my mouth fell open.

"Doc? I mean, Janet?" I stuttered. My friend and colleague, Dr. Janet Fraiser had appeared beside my son. She was dressed in her usual Class B uniform and a white lab coat. Fleetingly, I wondered if she had her penlight in her pocket. Yep, it was there, as usual. So far, she hadn't reached for it. Whew, I don't think my eyes could handle that thing right now.

"Hello, Jack. It's good to see you again," she replied with a smile. My first name coming from her lips sounded strange, but what the hell, rank didn't mean anything here. Did it? I mean, what was I going to do? Bend her dog tags? Write her up? Nope, I don't think so.

Rising to my feet, I stepped forward to wrap her in a hug. She felt so real, so alive to me, but, she wasn't. I knew that. After all, that was why she could be here with me now. At first, we just stood there, drawing comfort in the moment of closeness. Finally, I released her enough so that I could drink in her appearance.

"God, I've missed you, Janet. We've all missed you so much. The SGC just isn't the same without you there, threatening us all with those huge honkin' needles of yours."

"I know, Jack. I've seen the pain all of you have been in though, and I need you all to know that I never really left you. Because, ever since the day I died off-world, I've been watching over all of you, just like Charlie. It's just so hard seeing all of you, and not being able to tell you that I'm still there."

"You've been there all the time, Janet?"

"Yes, Jack. Where else do you think I would be? We got to know each other pretty well in the past seven years. Can you honestly believe that I would ever abandon my friends and family? And Cassie? I may not have been her birth mother, but I was her Mom in every other sense of the word. Where else could I go, Jack, except back to help the people I loved the most?" She was right. Janet wasn't just a doctor in name. She was someone who had more caring and compassion for others than anyone I had ever seen, who just happened to use her profession to allow her to help others. Knowing her, that was why she was here with me now, to help me deal with losing her.

"I didn't get to tell you good bye, Janet. None of us did. That was what hurt the most. Hell, they kept me so doped up on your happy juice that I didn't even know you were gone until just before the memorial service. Dammit all to hell! Janet, it shouldn't have been you. It should have been me, instead. We both know that. So, why was it you? Why did you have to die on us, Janet? It just wasn't fair! Can you please just tell me why, Doc?"

All of the pent-up rage and disbelieving anger spilled out of my lips. Oops, didn't know I still had so much of that still inside me. Janet probably did though. She'd been my "father confessor" on more than one occasion in the past. Looking down in embarrassment, I noticed that Charlie wasn't there. I was oddly relieve to realize that, even though I hoped that he would be back. After all, this was between me and Doc, no, Janet. A feather-light touch on my cheek brought my head back up to face my friend.

"I don't know why it was me, Jack. It just was, that's all. It wasn't something I ever thought would happen, but it did. The one thing I truly regret was that I never got a chance to say goodbye to anyone, because it happened so quickly. If you can take any comfort at all from it, I promise you that I was in no pain. Daniel was right there, and even he didn't get to say goodbye, Jack. I was dead before I hit the ground." Crap, it looked like she was crying.

"Oh for crying out loud, Doc, I didn't mean to make you cry," I offered clumsily.

"Ya think?" she retorted with a smile. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to put that one back on you, Jack?" Oops, she had got me, all right.

"Jack, would you be willing to do one last thing for me? It would mean a lot to me if you did. Now, I know you still aren't sure if you want to keep on living, and, believe me, I can understand your reasons, but you are my chance to set things right. If you decide on life, Jack, could you tell my friends and family goodbye for me and that I'm watching over them? Would you do that for me?" Damn, what a request, and she knew me well enough to know that I wouldn't be able to refuse her.

"Sure, Doc," I mumbled. "Just haven't been able to think long enough about the life or death thing to make a decision, that's all," I admitted. The realization that I didn't have to go into a long, drawn-out explanation helped. After all, she had just assured me that she had been watching it all happen. Who knows? Maybe it was because of her extra help that we were able to kick some serious snake butt.

"I do have another question for you, Jack. Just what the hell were you thinking when you took that second download? Didn't you realize that it would probably kill you this time around? Or were you even thinking?" Yep, this was what I had missed. She was chewing my ass but good. It was music to my ears.

"But, Doc…" I whined, joining in the game with glee.

"Don't you dare 'Doc' me, Airman! Or do I have to get out my extra-large needles?" Ooh, this was getting into the spirit of things, no pun intended.

"Janet, I honestly thought I could do it safely. Thor and Ernie told me I could and that I was one of the few humans that COULD do it. They also assured me that no one else on my team could do it safely. If all else failed, I figured that Thor could save my ass like he did before. But, this device was stronger and more potent than the first one. The first one just made me talk weird and build strange doohickeys. This one gave me the power to heal, just like that Ice Girl we ran into over a year ago. And then there were those strange chairs I sat in. Those recliners definitely made all the effects worse. I really didn't think I had much of a choice in what I did, Janet. If I hadn't acted when I did, Anubis would have gotten all that Intel. Where would that have put us then, huh? Well, I'll tell you, Doc. We would have ended up very dead. And not just me and my team. We're talking about Earth here, Janet. Our planet would have been blasted to smithereens by his fleet. I didn't know what else to do, so I took the download." I shrugged helplessly. I knew she had known just what was at stake, but still felt on the defensive, like I had to defend my actions.

"I know you did what you had to do, Jack. As usual, though, it ended up with you getting hurt and taking on the burden of having to save the planet, again. I just hate seeing you get hurt and shouldering so much responsibility all the time. Don't you ever get sick and tired of doing that, Colonel?" I shrugged my shoulders and gave her a wan half-smile. God, if she only knew just how just how sick and tired I was of the whole three-ring circus I seemed to be trapped in.

"Yeah, Doc, sometimes it does get to be a little bit much even for an alpha-male type like me. You know, some days I just wish I could walk away from it all and call it quits. Just close the door on it and never look back. Then I can't help but ask myself the question. If not me, then, who? Who else is better qualified and able to take care of all this crap? Who, Doc? Can you honestly tell me the name of someone else who could do it? Because, if you can, then please tell me so I can get off this crazy merry-go-round, once and for all." She turned her eyes away from mine and didn't give me an answer. Yep, just what I thought, she couldn't give me one. Not one single person could do it. Crap.

"No, Jack, I can't and I really wish that I could. It just hurts to see you make so many sacrifices over and over again. Too bad it couldn't be different, huh." Yeah, and if wishes were fishes, beggars would ride. Or something like that. Whatever.

"So Janet, you mentioned something about the choice I have to make. Care to add your input? It's not as if you could ever be accused of being shy when it came to expressing your opinion about anything," I teased. In case she couldn't tell, I really did want to hear what she had to say as I hadn't been able to come to any kind of decision yet. Who knows? She might be able to give me more information than I already had.

"You know I can't tell you which choice you should make, Colonel. What I can tell you is that Thor hasn't forgotten about you. In fact, he's on his way to pick you up now. He did have a good reason for not coming sooner, you know," she replied enigmatically. I asked her a silent question by raising one eyebrow.

"And?"

"Sorry, Jack, I can't tell you anything more than what I've already said," she added stubbornly. Well, I had to try. Didn't I?

"So, Thor is on his way. Well, I wouldn't want to have him come all this way for nothing. Would I? And then, there's Ernie to think about too. If I wasn't there to see him, it would break his little heart." Yeah, I had made my decision. I chose life. Just hope it didn't turn around and bite me on the ass. Charlie was suddenly there, standing beside Janet. He had a big grin on his face as usual.

"Good to see you back, son Does this mean you both will have to be going?"

Yeah, Dad. You just have to make a promise first. OK?"

"Sure, Charlie. What is it?"

"You have to promise me that you will remember that I'm watching over you. Do you promise, Dad? Because, I don't want you to forget that this time."

"Sure, Charlie, I'll remember that. Is it OK if I tell your Mom about it?"

"Could you do that for me, Dad? That would be too cool!"

"No, problem, son. I think it would really make her day if she knew that. Don't you?"

Yeah Dad, I do. Maybe she wouldn't be so sad then," he added hopefully.

"Before you guys take off to where ever it is you hang out at, could you answer me a question first?"

"It depends on the question, Dad."

"Did you and Janet go all glowy on me? By that I mean, are you ascended like Daniel was?" Charlie and Janet exchanged glances, but she answered my question.

"No, Jack, we aren't in the glowy club. We did go to the good place, but everyone who goes there is given a choice. Basically, neither one of us wanted to spend eternity polishing our haloes, so we volunteered to join the guardian angel corps. Does that answer your question, Jack?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah, it does, Janet. Thanks for volunteering for what must amount to hazardous duty in your line of work," I added drolly.

"Oh, and Janet, I will pass along your message for you. I promise. Good bye son, I love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

Then they both faded away, leaving me alone once again. Gradually, the warm whiteness faded to be replaced by the cold reality of the stasis chamber. Opening my eyes and moving my head slightly to the side, I could see that my friends from SG-1 were still there. 'They hadn't left. Why? How much time had passed while I was in that white place?'

There was really no way for me to tell as the passage of time in the stasis chamber was immeasurable. If necessary, my period of hibernation could be measured in years. 'God, I hope I don't have to be in here that long. Is this how the Ice Girl felt?'

A faint buzzing sound reached my ears and movement attracted my eyes. A short, gray alien appeared in my line of sight. 'Thor! He had had kept his promise and come for me. Oh, thank God!'

The buzzing sound gradually increased in volume and intensity, and the gel-like substance encasing me began to liquefy, until it was gone. With nothing to support my weakened body, I felt myself on the verge of collapsing in a heap on the floor. My friend, Teal'c, saved me from that indignity by stepping forward just as my knees folded. His arms encircled my waist and I let my head fall upon his chest. With a shuddering gasp, I forced myself to breathe air into oxygen-starved lungs. Since my knees could no longer hold me up, I let my friend shift my body around so that he could carry me out away from the chamber. My arms couldn't even hold onto him and dangled loosely by my side.

My eyes opened wide as the tumult in my brain once more reached a crescendo. Without the dampening field provided by stasis, the data from the Ancients was rapidly eating away at the last vestiges of my soul once again. Jack O'Neill was almost gone.

With my eyes fixed on Teal'c's face, I didn't see where he was laying me at first. As he slowly withdrew his support from my body, I could see that he had laid me down on the Ancients' chair. 'NOOOO!' Frantically, I searched for someone to remove me from the chair. Due to my weakened state, I was unable to shout out my thoughts. Only a whisper left my lips.

"No. Please, no!"

Then Thor came into my line of sight and I could see that his hand was glowing. From previous experience, I knew what would happen next. I watched as he raised his glowing palm level with my face. As before, my eyes were immediately and irrevocably mesmerized by the glowing object in his palm. The lassitude and numbness of my body was replaced by a growing pressure and pain inside my head that spiked sharply upward. I screamed and my back arched off the chair when it reached the point where I thought my head would explode. A glowing sheet of bright light formed in front of my eyes and traveled toward Thor's upraised palm. There, it disappeared and everything faded to darkness.

Blackness and quiet solitude surrounded me, cocooning my body in its warmth. There were no sounds to distract me and I was filled with a sense of serenity that had eluded me for most of my life. Nothing could intrude on my tranquility and I knew, without knowing why or how, that I was safe. Thinking was too hard, so I gave it up and returned to marinating in the peaceful glow of my surroundings. Somehow, I also knew that I would be forced to leave this wonderful place, so resolved to luxuriate in its goodness while I could. Time had no meaning here, so I simply existed and waited. Lingering here was permitted, so I breathed deeply and sank back into the blackness.

Progressively, the silence was replaced with murmuring sounds. Hissing noises that were barely perceptible to my senses intruded on my solitude. Curious, I concentrated on discerning the origin of the whispering sounds and they became louder and more insistent. The hissing was joined by whispering voices, just beyond my ability to distinguish their meaning.

Discovering that the pain in my skull was gone, I gave an inner sigh of relief. I also realized the disconcerting chatter and uproar of the Ancients download had vanished, leaving a numbness inside my head. However, the part of my mind that was Jack O'Neill was still there, complete with memories and knowledge. The incessant, incomprehensible babble of the Ancients had been relegated to a remote corner of my brain, and no longer dominated my thoughts. I directed my attention to my eyes, and could make out a bright light through the tracery of the blood vessels in closed eyelids. 'Thor had done it again, he had saved me from death.' The whispering sounds resolved themselves into two distinct voices and I realized that Thor and Ernie were beside me, discussing my condition.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips, and I cautiously opened my eyes. Blinking rapidly to dispel the brightness that brought tears to my eyes, I tried moving my head to get a better look at them. It worked, and I could see that Thor and Ernie were indeed, looking down upon me as I lay in the medical pod. I tried giving them a wan smile and gloried in the realization that I had regained control of my body once again. Experimentally, I tried clearing my throat of the gummy substance coating my mouth and throat.

"Hi," I whispered hoarsely. Thor and Ernie exchanged significant, knowing glances before turning their gaze back to me. Ernie started bouncing in place. The little guy seemed excited.

"It is good to see that you have awakened, O'Neill," stated Thor in his usual solemn manner. I broadened my smile in acknowledgement of his words.

"Ya think?" retorted Ernie. I couldn't help my chuckle, especially since Thor was giving him the evil eye. Ooh, Ernie had definitely been studying up on his human mannerisms. I loved corrupting the little guy!

"Where am I?" I whispered. Trying to lift my head and arms proved just how weak I still was, because I just couldn't do it. Guess I was in for more treatment in their medical pod thing. And as for roaming around, that was definitely so not on my agenda right now. Actually, I didn't mind just laying here for now. The pace of the past week or so had been so hectic that I hadn't been able to relax at all.

After the download, I admit I had been less than cordial to everyone. Just the thought that my time was running out had caused an almost frantic reaction in me. Little things had suddenly become more important. I guess that's why I had tried so hard to finish that damn crossword puzzle and kept snarling at Daniel when he interrupted me.

As for my condescending response to Dr. Weir in the Gateroom, well, she just didn't seem to understand the frenzied feeling of trying to hold onto something that was fast disappearing and the difficulty I was having interpreting the instructions I was receiving from the Ancients. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, that if I forgot something, we would all be in deep doodoo. I knew we were running out of time to find whatever it was that would defeat Anubis and save Earth. No pressure there. Right? Crap.

Of course, I knew that if I failed, the consequences would be a bit more serious than a letter of reprimand in my personnel file and a slap on the wrist. Failure in this case meant that many people would die. And whether or not I liked the fact that all this shit was on my shoulders, again, it was there. It was my responsibility to take care of it the best I knew how. In my book, failure just wasn't an option. As in nope, better not happen.

So, almost dying gave me the excuse I needed to lay around and enjoy the fact that I was Jack O'Neill again and was alive. Wow. Thor interrupted my introspection with more information.

"We are aboard the O'Neill II in orbit around the planet Earth. We transported you here soon after you lost consciousness. It was deemed prudent by myself and Eir that you received proper medical treatment in our medical facility as you were close to death."

"So, we're back to the same old, same old. Huh, Thor?" I replied with a sigh. Yep, back to the old let's rescue O'Neill and bring him back from the brink of death' routine. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and tried to give it away, but no one else wanted it. Thor must not have understood my reference, so Ernie took over.

"You are correct, Jack O'Neill. We have once again arrived in time to save your sorry ass." Thor was giving him a dirty look again, so I decided to rescue the poor kid.

"Thanks a bunch, guys. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up. What took you so long, anyway?"

"I must apologize for our tardiness in responding to your request for aid, O'Neill. Because the forces of Anubis were attacking several of the planets which are protected by us, I was delayed. We believe this was an attempt on his part to keep us from giving you needed assistance," Thor replied gravely.

"You're probably right about that, Thor. It almost worked too" I added with a grimace.

"When I was able to ascertain the motives behind Anubis' attacks, I dispatched our ship to your planet as quickly as possible."

"Well, I appreciate all the help, guys. So, what did you do with the latest download stuff? Is it still there in my head, or is it gone completely?" Ernie spoke up this time.

"Much of the information from the Ancients device still resides in your brain. However, this latest experience seemed much more virulent than your previous one. We believe this is because of your personal interface with the control centers from the Ancients. Evidently your prolonged contact with these devices acted as a catalyst to overwhelm your brain's natural defenses. We have been informed that you developed several unusual abilities after your first contact with a command chair. Is this true?"

"If you call being able to heal a fatal knife wound an unusual ability, then I guess the answer would be yes, Ernie. By the way, will I still be able to do that? It was pretty cool to just lay my hands on Bratac's stomach and, voila, no more boo-boo for the Jaffa Master. He seemed as surprised about it as I was. I didn't even know I could do stuff like that until I did it. That was the way I discovered most of that stuff. I would see a need, and the solution would just pop into my frond. What the…?" 'Oops, was I back to normal or not?' They must have noticed my panicked look, because Ernie hastened to reassure me.

"Although the majority of the damage to your brain has been repaired, you are still in dire need of additional medical treatment in our medical facility. Until your treatment is complete, you will experience sporadic lapses in which you utilize the knowledge you gained from the Ancients. Do not be discouraged when this occurs, Jack O'Neill. You will soon be operating within normal parameters."

"So, what you're trying to say is that I'll still be talking weird for awhile until you finish up with me. Right?"

"That's it in a nutshell, Jack O'Neill."

"Well, that's just peachy, guys. Just peachy. And how long will this take? Days? Weeks? What?"

"Your treatment will be complete in six to twelve hours, providing that there are no unforeseen difficulties. However, you have been responding to treatment quite well, thus far."

"Well, all right, just as long as it doesn't take forever and I don't go running off to build a naqueda reactor using duct tape and chewing gum. By the way, are the members of my team OK? Do they know where I am?"

"They were present in the underground chamber when you were transported to our ship, O'Neill, and appeared to be in good health. They were most concerned for your welfare and requested that they be transported aboard the Prometheus for their formal mission debriefing with your General Hammond. Major Carter wished for me to convey her distress over your unresponsiveness and seemed reluctant to leave your side. We have since communicated with your superiors and informed them that you are recovering while in our care. They have indicated a wish to exchange personal communication with you when you are able to manage this feat. As you are not yet ready to do this, I will convey your concerns to them and reassure Major Carter that you are no longer in danger of losing your life. Is this your wish, O'Neill?" asked Thor.

"Yeah, Thor, that would be nice. And tell Carter that I understand what she was trying to tell me. Tell her…backatcha. She'll know what I mean." 'Yep, you're real great with words, aren't you, Jack. A real virtuoso of the English tongue. Either you're so tongue-tied that you can't get a single word out, or you're spouting alien gibberish that no one but Daniel can even begin to understand. And it isn't Daniel that you're in love with. Is it, Jack? Nope, it's Carter that you want, but she's still out of reach for you. Isn't she, Jack? So how long do you plan on playing this game of don't touch, huh? Or should it be, how long CAN you keep playing it before you either go bonkers or just give in to your feelings and make an absolute fool of yourself?' Crap, the situations I get myself into.

"I shall convey your sentiments to your team mates on board the Prometheus as soon as you are made more comfortable, O'Neill." assured Thor.

"Are you trying to tell me that it's about time for me to go back to sleep, Thor?"

"You got it, Jack O'Neill. I fear this conversation has taxed your system. In order to prevent any ill effects, you require additional time in the medical pod. Do you have any other questions before we proceed, Jack O'Neill?" Ernie asked. To tell you the truth, I was feeling a little woozy.

"Nope, guess we might as well get on with it. The sooner you're finished, the sooner I can get out of this thing. So what happens next, do you stick a needle in my butt, or what?"

"Is this what you wish?"

"Uh, no. That's just the way our Doc always did it."

"No, our methods of sedation are much more advanced, Jack O'Neill. Sleep will be induced by way of a painless infusion into the tubes which are attached to your chest. These same tubes are monitoring fluid levels and supplying necessary nutrients."

Damn, I hadn't even noticed those things. So much for my attention to detail. Course, I did have the excuse of being brought back from the brink of death. They were probably using some sort of anesthetic to deaden the area where those tubes were sticking into me. Ernie must have already started it, because I could hardly keep my eyes open any more and my head was feeling kind of fuzzy. One last time, I forced them open to look at my Asgard friends.

"S' OK, guys…be seeing you later," I whispered as I lost my battle with my eyelids and they fell shut.

The darkness was complete and all encompassing. I felt nothing except warmth and peace. Wow, what a concept. No worries, no worlds to save, just silence. Nothing intruded on my solitude for what seemed like an eternity. It was so comforting that I never wanted it to end. Eventually, I knew it would have to, but for now, it was nice.

As if those very thoughts were a bad omen, sounds began to intrude in my safe world of darkness and oblivion. They were just annoying enough to get my attention. At first, they were meaningless sounds, noises just beyond my ability to decipher and understand. However, that inability to understand was my undoing. It piqued my interest enough so that my safe haven of darkness was obliterated and shattered as the sounds resolved themselves into the beeps and swishing noises of medical equipment.

A search of recent memories told me I was inside a medical pod onboard the Asgard spaceship, O'Neill II. Sweet. I realized the sedation must have been decreased in order to allow me to surface, so to speak. Maybe that meant I was almost cured. One could only hope. By concentrating really hard, I was able to force one eye open. All I could see was brightness and the translucent covering of the medical pod. I guess that meant they hadn't opened it up yet.

As if that were a signal, a whoosh sounded as the lid was retracted into the pod itself. The first thing I saw was Ernie's bald head. He blinked at me a couple of times before saying anything and seemed surprised to see that I was awake. Well, Doc Fraiser had always told me I was a fast healer.

"Hey," I grunted.

"Hey yourself, Jack O'Neill. This is indeed a unexpected surprise. I had thought you would continue to sleep for another two hours, at least."

Since my mouth was dry and gummy again, I just grunted by way of acknowledgement. As if he could read my mind, a glass of water appeared in his hand. Carefully, he raised my head so that I could take a suck on the straw. The moisture felt wonderful as it soaked into the tissues surrounding my mouth and throat. Only when they had been saturated, did any moisture find its way down my throat to my stomach. 'God, it tasted so good!' I smacked my lips to show my appreciation of his kindness and gave him a grin. Experimentally I tried clearing my throat in preparation to trying speech.

"So, Ernie, what's next on the agenda? Jumping jacks followed by a ten-mile hike in full gear? Or should I just take it easy and only run five miles?" I asked teasingly, hoping he would take the bait. I wasn't disappointed by his reaction.

"Nope, Jack O'Neill. You are still in no condition to attempt such an arduous task. I would be surprised if you were able to sit up in bed yet. Your Dr. Fraiser was indeed a strong-willed women to be able to put up with your shenanigans. I am looking forward to sharing our experiences with her again." Damn, they didn't know. Crap.

"Umm, Ernie, I'm afraid you won't be able to do that. Dr. Fraiser was killed off-world in a firefight about a month ago." God, it still hurt to talk about it, even though I had discussed her death with her while I was still in that stasis chamber. Ernie just looked at me, his big eyes so solemn and wide.

"I am sorry to hear of your loss, Jack O'Neill. Please believe me when I tell you that I was not aware of her death. She was a physician of great worth and I will miss her."

"Yeah, I miss her too, Ernie. She was off-world tending to one of our wounded when she was killed. At least she died doing what she loved best, being a Doctor and saving other people's lives. The Infirmary at the SGC just isn't the same without her there. The whole base misses her and it's been rough dealing with her loss. I was almost killed in the same engagement so didn't even know she was gone until days later when I regained consciousness. But I have the feeling that she's still watching over us and protecting all of us the best she can."

"I too share your sentiments. Although we of the Asgard do not worship any official God, we also believe that those who live a good life go on to provide shelter and hope for those left behind after death. Does this surprise you, Jack O'Neill?"

"I'll have to admit I never thought of you guys as having a belief system that would include something like that. I guess that proves that some ideas, like the belief in some sort of existence after death, are truly universal."

"The news of Dr. Fraiser's death is very disturbing to me, Jack O'Neill. I shall require time to inform Thor of this new development. He too had much admiration for her skills as a physician." Seeing that my friend was so upset, I rapidly changed the subject. Evidently, the news about Janet's death had been quite a shock to him.

"So, what kind of activities are in store for us today, Ernie?"

"I believe that you may be able to remain conscious for several hours today. Your General Hammond and the members of your team have expressed an interest in discussing recent events with you. I think this discussion is called a debriefing. Are you ready to see them?"

"Sure, bring them on." I tried moving my arms beneath me to push my body into a sitting position. It took a little time to do it, but I finally found myself looking at my surroundings. I took note that no tubes were attached to my body, but I still wasn't wearing my usual uniform. Some type of temporary covering was draped across my body to provide a semblance of dignity. It kind of reminded me of those damn backless gowns that Janet used to inflict on us during our more lengthy stays in her domain.

"However, I would like to get some decent clothes on before I see anybody. Could you get me the clothes I had when I got here? Then I could get dressed before the debriefing."

"Sure enough, Jack O'Neill. I can have your clothes here in a jiffy." Then he headed over to a console and moved some shells around. My clothes suddenly appeared on the floor nearby. That transporter thingy was a cool thing to have.

"Thanks a bunch, Ernie. Now, if you could just hand me that black t-shirt, my boxers and my pants, I can get myself decent. OK?"

"Okey, dokey, I'll bring them right over for you." I watched amused, as Ernie picked over my clothes to find the correct items. He did a double take when he saw my boxers. They were my favorite ones with the cartoon character of Marvin the Martian all over them

"May I inquire as to the significance of the character on your undergarment?"

"Sure Ernie, those are my lucky boxer shorts and that picture is a cartoon character named Marvin the Martian. He was a great guy but kept trying to use his disintegrator ray on Bugs Bunny." At his look of puzzlement, I attempted to clarify. "I'll have to get you a recording of some of our great cartoon characters. That's the only way you would be able to understand what I'm talking about."

"That would be just peachy, Jack O'Neill. Having the opportunity to add to my collection of human methods of communication is always welcome. This will certainly add to my understanding of your colorful metaphors." I smiled at my friend, wondering how the members of the Asgard High Council would react to seeing the antics of the cartoon characters of Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian, and Daffy Duck. Hopefully, it wouldn't cause a diplomatic incident. It could be fun though.

"I'll make sure you get some tapes, Ernie. In the meantime, why don't you let me get some clothes on so I can see my friends? You can come back in about fifteen minutes. OK?"

"Sure thing, See you later," he replied. I watched as he did his little bouncy-float thing out the door. Then I concentrated on putting my clothes on. It wasn't as hard to do as I had feared. Evidently, I was mostly recovered now. Maybe I could go back home soon. That would be great.

True to his word, Ernie reappeared about fifteen minutes later with General Hammond in tow. He was wearing a flight suit and looked like he had been through the wringer. Seeing him dressed like that reminded me of how isolated I had been while under the influence of the Ancients download. His story was probably a doozy too and I couldn't wait to hear it. I flashed him my trademark grin to let him know I was me and doing alright.

"Hello, Sir, It's good to see you again,"

"It's good to see you again too, Jack. Looks like the Asgard have been taking pretty good care of you. From what your team had told me, I was afraid we had lost you for good this time."

"Well, Thor and Ernie managed to pull my ass out of the fire once again, Sir. I don't know what I would do without them. I'd probably be dead," I admitted ruefully.

"Jack, I wanted to fill you in on a few things before you go back to the SGC. Since you were kind of out of the loop for awhile, I reckon you're missing quite a few pieces of the puzzle."  
  
"Yes, Sir. Why are you wearing that flight suit? Thor said something about you and my team being on the Prometheus."  
  
"The President gave me the assignment of commanding the Prometheus during the battle against Anubis. Several other member's of the crew were from the SGC and the pilots of the 302's helped fight off the death gliders while you were doing your thing at the Antarctic. In fact, I positioned my ship over yours to protect it while you were still burning that hole through the ice. When that super weapon of yours discharged into space, I was preparing to ram Anubis in his Mothership, but veered off at the last minute when you destroyed it, What the hell was that stuff? It was like nothing I had ever seen before!"

"I'm not sure if I can tell you, Sir. What I can say is that I was able to direct its path while I was in that command chair thing. It's almost as if I could see just what it was doing and what it was destroying. I knew the exact moment when the Mothership was destroyed, so I shut it down. Don't remember much after that. I think I kind of passed out for a bit."

"Well, whatever it was, it was very impressive. The President and the Joint Chiefs agree. Jack, what you did was really something. You knew the risks you were taking, but like the true soldier that you are, you just sucked it up and did what you had to do. It's been an honor serving with you, Colonel. I just wish I was still your CO."

"Thanks for the complement, Sir, but you know how I am." I looked down at my hands, suddenly embarrassed. The SGC just wouldn't be the same without him.

"President Hayes is planning a little ceremony to honor those of us who fought in this latest battle. He has ordered that you be present for this one, Jack. We're just waiting for the Asgard to let us know when you're fit enough to attend. Oh, and the President has invited the Asgard to attend too. It should be an interesting party with such an unusual guest list." The General was grinning now. Just what did those guys have up their sleeves now?

"Well, you'll have to talk to Thor and Ernie about that, Sir. They haven't told me when they're cutting me loose yet." I turned to my Asgard friend who was hovering in the background.

"Hey, Ernie, how much longer are you keeping me here?"

"Just hold your horses, Jack O'Neill. Your medical treatment is almost complete, and I estimate that you will be able to return to your facility in about three more of your hours. Is that good enough for you?"

"Sure thing, Ernie. Well, Sir you've got your answer. So, who else will be attending this dog and pony show, Sir?"

"I'll be there, along with President Hayes, General Jumper, the Joint Chief's, and all the personnel at SGC. Thor and Eir have also been invited and have said they will attend. Let me tell you, when President Hayes found out that the Asgard were planning to attend, he got really excited. You probably haven't heard about it, but a hologram of Anubis appeared right in the Oval Office just before the battle started. You should've seen it. The Secret Service guys tried to take him out right away, but the bullets weren't having any effect. That's when I realized it was just a hologram. Kinsey about wet himself when he saw that Goa'uld. You would've loved to see the expression on his face. And as for the President, he made us all proud when he stood up to that bastard and told him off. I always knew that guy had balls, but he really outdid himself then. Oh, by the way, Kinsey managed to get himself on the President's shit list when he turned tail and tried to skedaddle off to the Alpha site. From what I heard, his boss told him to shut the hell up."

"Ooh, I'm sorry that I missed that one. You already know my opinion on Kinsey, and I'm not really surprised that he turned out to be such a fricking coward. It sounds like we have a Commander in Chief to be proud of, Sir. I'm looking forward to meeting him."

"They're all looking forward to meeting you too, Jack. You've made us proud, son. I mean that," he added solemnly. Crap, put on the spot, again. Time to change the subject.

"Sir, is Dr. Weir still going to be head of the SGC? It's just kind of weird having a civilian running things back at the mountain."

"From what I've heard, she stood up to Kinsey pretty well and kept her head in some pretty dicey situations. Seems that Anubis tried to send a nuke through the Stargate and she had the sense to keep the iris closed, despite Kinsey being an asshole and ordering her to open it. That's when he got told to shut the hell up by our Commander In Chief, or so I've been told."

That's cool, at least she had the sense to listen to what all of us were saying. She must be a pretty gutsy lady to stand up to the Vice President like that."  
  
"According to the rumors I've heard, Kinsey may be replaced soon. Seems President Hayes was pretty pissed off at Kinsey, especially when he showed his true colors and ran like a scalded hound when the chips were down."

"General, you still haven't answered my question. Is Dr. Weir going to keep heading up the SGC?"

"I think the President has other plans for her. From what I've heard, the SGC is getting a new boss."

"Who is it, Sir? Anyone I know?"

"All I can say right now is that it looks like another Air Force General will be taking command. The change of command will take place during the ceremony. You'll get to meet your new CO then, Jack. Don't worry, I know this guy and he's a good man."

"Oh, for crying out loud, Sir. Don't keep me in suspense. Tell me who it is."

"Sorry son, I have orders from the top not to reveal it to a soul. You'll just have to wait like everyone else."

But, Sir, you know I don't do waiting very well, Please, you can tell me. I won't tell a soul. I promise," I said in my best wheedling voice. It didn't appear to be working. Crap. I was getting a new CO and didn't have a clue as to who he might be. I was not a happy camper. No siree, bub.

"I know you won't tell a soul, Jack, because I won't tell you who it is. And that's final, son." From his tone of voice, I knew he wasn't about to cave in.

"I guess that means I'll just have to suck it up and wait, but that doesn't mean I have to like it, Sir. By the way, how are all of you planning to get down to the SGC? It sounds like most of our personnel are up on the Prometheus."

"The plan is for our ship to fly back to it's underground hanger. From there, the crew will be flown back to the SGC. I think Thor plans to beam you straight back to the base when you're fit to travel. We'll let all of you know when the ceremony will take place. I have a feeling you won't be kept waiting long. Since our last battle, quite a few eyes were opened, and it's going to be real hard to keep the public from finding out about this one. You know, Anubis managed to blow the Nimitz and it's carrier group out of the water within five minutes of attacking Earth. That's going to be pretty hard to cover up."

"Wow, sounds like I missed out on a lot. You're right, news of the stuff we do will probably be getting out to the public soon. So, what kind of cover story are they using now? It'd better be a good one."

"So far, they're blaming all the destruction and light-show on a meteor shower, but I don't think it will hold water for too long. I have the feeling that the SGC will be going public before too long." I looked up and caught my former CO giving me a funny look. 'Wonder what that's about?'

"Jack, in Daniel's report he said you talked about the Lost City and Atlantis. Do you remember anything about that?" Until he mentioned it, I didn't have a clue, but as soon as I heard him say those words, pictures popped into my head.

"Give me a minute, Sir. Umm, yeah, now that you mention it, I do remember something about that. When we were on the lava planet, I brought up a cosmic map of sorts. It was kind of dated because it was pretty old, but I do remember talking about Atlantis. Only, the Ancients didn't call it that. They called it Atlantous, or something like that. According to the holographic 3-D map they had of Earth, it was located near the area where Florida is now. Only, on their map, it wasn't underwater and they had a Stargate there. Does that make any sense, Sir?"

"Are you kidding, Jack? You may have just told us where to find the Lost City and confirmed all those myths about Atlantis. I know the President will want to know about this as soon as possible and I'll be briefing him about it in person when I get back to D.C. As for Daniel, we'll have to work hard to keep him from running off to find it himself. You know how he is."

"Yes, Sir, I do know how he is." I was still trying to figure out how that information just popped into my head like that. Was this what Ernie meant when he told me that I could still access all that information? Since he was standing right there, I saw no harm in asking.

"Ernie, will I still be able to remember all that stuff from the Ancients?"

"It appears that you will, Jack O'Neill. You probably will not be aware of this knowledge until it is needed. I believe it will operate in much the same way as your previous experience. However, I do not believe that you have retained your ability to heal others."

"So, what you're telling me is that all this Intel is here to stay. Is that it?"

"Yes, that is exactly that I have been telling you. Does this distress you?"

"No, I just didn't expect it to stick around, that's all." I shrugged, trying to mask the discomfort this new information was giving me.

"Is there a problem, Colonel?" asked my former CO in a concerned manner.

"No, I guess not, unless you like the idea of being the night security guard for a library of dead people, that is. Won't this crap ever go away, Ernie?" I asked plaintively.

"I'm afraid not, Jack O'Neill. If it has not disappeared by now, then it will remain with you. In addition, it will be easier for you to access this information now. Once the question is posed to you, the answer will appear. Do you not see this as an advantage?"

"Nope, I don't Ernie. I'm a soldier and have no wish to be an walking-talking human encyclopedia. No, this is definitely so not a good thing, Ernie. I just wish it would go away and leave me in peace. Haven't I earned that? Huh? Well, haven't I?"

Yeah, so I was feeling sorry for myself. 'Welcome to the Jack O'Neill pity party. Come one, come all to view the human freak encyclopedia. The great Jack O'Neill. He sees all and knows all. Crap!' Oh well, I suppose it could be worse, I could still be back in that stasis chamber wondering whether I would ever get out of it or not. It's just that I wanted things to go back to the way they were. Yeah, before all this crap hit the fan. Face it, O'Neill, that just ain't gonna happen. Not now. Not ever. No way, no how.

I had buried my face in my hands, not wishing to see Ernie or the General for now. Wearily, I laid back down on the table and laid my arm over my eyes. Maybe I wasn't as ready to go back home as I had thought. Given enough time, I might get used to all these changes in me, but for right now, I hated it.

"I'm sorry you feel that way about it, son. Believe me, if I could change it, I would. However, we both know that's an impossibility and I'm not in the habit of making promises I can't keep. I just want you to know that I'll be there to help you out in any way I can. All you have to do is ask, Jack." His words touched something deep inside me, and I dropped my arm away from my face so I could look him in the eye. The only thing I saw there was concern for me. No derision, no pity, just caring concern.

"Thanks, Sir. That means a lot coming from you," I replied, knowing that I could take him at his word. Hell, he had helped me out of more tough spots in the past seven years than either of us could count. And he was one of the first people I went to with the knowledge that I had retained so much from that first download. I knew in my heart that this was a man that I could depend on. When things got rough, and they would, he would be in my corner.

In the meantime, Ernie had started bouncing and acting official. I had the feeling that he was about to throw my former boss out on his ear. That little guy was pretty protective of me and reminded me of a certain Napoleonic power-monger that I missed like hell.

"General Hammond. I must ask that you leave as Jack O'Neill is still in need of our medical facility. His recovery is not yet complete. You may inform your superiors that we will accompany him back to the SGC tomorrow." Yep, the General had just gotten thrown out, I grinned and waved sheepishly to him as Ernie ushered him out the door.

"See you tomorrow, Sir." Then it was lights out for Jack O'Neill. Damn that Ernie and his Asgard mickey's.

By the next day, I was feeling calmer and more in control of my feelings. I still didn't like carrying around all that extra stuff in my head. However, I had become resigned to it since I couldn't change what had happened. Anyway, I had known I was taking a hell of a big risk when I took that second download. Since this wasn't the first time I had done this particular dance, I knew just how dangerous it could be for me, as well as everyone else. There just hadn't seemed to be any other choice that I could see at the time.

Daniel couldn't take the download because he had to be the interpreter, Carter's brain was too valuable to risk. I hadn't been kidding when I told her I saw her abilities as one of our nation's great natural resources. Teal'c certainly couldn't do it because the device wouldn't let him. That just left me to take the fall. So what if my head was jam-packed with all kinds of info? At least maybe now I could beat Carter when it came to the crossword puzzles. That alone would make some of this crap worth it. Revenge can be sweet.

Thor and Ernie had beamed me back to my quarters on base, and I spent the morning catching up on paperwork that had piled up in my absence. It was nice having breakfast and lunch in the commissary with my team. The mood at the base did seem more somber than before. Well, gee, I wonder why? After all, we'd only prevented the destruction of our entire planet by the skin of our teeth several days ago. All of us were still jittery and a bundle of nerves, me included.

I did have a nice chat with Elizabeth Weir, and despite my initial misgivings about having an anti-military civilian running the place, she did seem to want to be fair about stuff. And any broad who can tell Kinsey where to get off is OK in my book. Later that morning, we received word that the President would be showing up the next day for the big shindig. I still hadn't been able to discover who the next boss of the SGC was going to be, though. Tomorrow would be a day for Class A's, tight shirt collars, and uncomfortable low quarters. I could hardly wait. NOT!

The only redeeming factor in the whole mess was that everybody, right down to the dishwashers in the commissary, had to dress-up and attend. They do say that misery loves company and this was a prime example of it. I'll have to admit that I was looking forward to meeting our new Commander in Chief. From the description I got from Hammond of his confrontation with Anubis, he must have balls of steel. In my opinion, that wasn't a bad thing to have in his line of work.

Thankfully, Carter took over the preparations of getting everything ready for the ceremony. I'll admit I still was feeling a little off my feed and those kind of details were best left to someone who actually gave a damn about what color the bunting over the Stargate was. Nope, I'm not kidding. They were dressing up the Stargate in red, white, and blue bunting. Part of me was actually hoping that we would have an incoming wormhole that just happened to kawhoosh all that stuff to kingdom come. Now, that would be a sight. I could see it now. Carter explaining to General Jumper and the President why the bunting looked a little singed around the edges. Naw, I wouldn't be that mean to her. She was taking her job way to seriously and I just couldn't stand to see her hurt in anyway.

I did give Teal'c a hand with base security. Between his knowledge, the expertise of Special Forces, and my paranoia, we could pick up a rat fart at sixty paces. Not that we had rats at the SGC, we just had to contend with the human version of that animal. And, oh joy, Kinsey had not been invited to this jamboree. From what I could pick up from the grapevine, that guy was definitely persona non grata. Didn't it just break your heart? Not mine. Nope, not a bit. As in no sir, he's not my baby, and I don't mean maybe. The best part was that I didn't have to kill him off after all. He had succeeded in cutting his own throat quite nicely, and I was loving it. I tell ya, there's nothing quite like seeing a son of a bitch like him get his just desserts to bring up my opinion of the human race. Maybe there was hope for us after all.

Everyone on my team was being kept busy getting ready for this bash, Carter had her ceremonial trappings and rituals to attend to, Daniel had a speech to write for Dr. Weir, and Teal'c was handling security. Me, well, I just kind of hung around bugging people and feeling useless and…different. It was good to get back home though. Bugging people here was part of my job as 2IC. My excuse was that it was one way to keep staff on their toes. Well, it seemed to be working.

Carter even made sure a set of Class A's was waiting for me in my quarters, complete with fruit salad on the chest and starch in my shirt collar. Did I mention how much I hated those damn tight collars? So, about an hour before show time, I found myself getting all dressed up in my monkey suit for the dog and pony show. Despite the laid-back image that I portray when I'm in my BDU's, I'm every inch the professional soldier when I put on my dress blues.

Besides, I happened to know that Carter had a thing for how I looked in mine. She had let it slip by accident one time, and I never forgot it. Not to say that she didn't look damn good in her Class A's. I can still remember the first time I saw her swishing into the Briefing Room. If anything, she looked even better seven years later than she did then. And that's saying a lot. As for that little chat I had promised myself we would have, it hadn't happened yet. Maybe after all the hoopla died down, would be a better time. Maybe.

I positioned myself at the window up in the Briefing Room so I could have a bird's eye view of the gathering. I was alone, but really didn't want any company right now. To be honest, I still was feeling different, like the odd man out, the freak at the county fair. Odd…I reckon that would be as good a term to describe my condition as any. I, myself, had used that word in the form of a question right after my first download. "Does anyone else think this is odd?" Ya think? Damn straight Skippy, I sure as hell did think it was odd.

I'd been doing a lot of thinking about my unique position. Thanks to that last download I took, I had more stuff stored in that noggin of mine than Carter, which is saying a lot. By using this Intel from the Ancients, I was able to knock out a whole fleet of Motherships and take out Anubis. I was one hundred percent sure, no….ninety percent sure that the slimy snaky-assed bastard was dead for good. That is, provided that he hadn't found a way to escape at the last minute. When the liquid fire engulfed him and his ship, I had heard his scream of rage in my mind, but had felt no trace of him afterwards.

If past experience was anything to go by, I figured that another Snakehead was just waiting in the wings for an excuse to take his place and I was putting my money on it being Ba'al. Chances were real good that he knew who he had to thank for his promotion to Grand Poobah of the Snake Social Club too. As in yours truly, Jack O'Neill, Me. Of course, if he knew that much, then he would also know how Anubis had been defeated.

That made me a huge honkin' target every time I stepped through the Gate. It had been pure dumb luck that he hadn't known enough to dig around in my head for the valuable Intel I had the first time he had me pinned on that web thing of his. I couldn't count on being that lucky again. Maybe, it was time I hung up my P-90 and traded it in for something else, because the idea of endangering whoever went through that Gate with me just didn't sit well.

As for any threat I might feel from Earth-based bad-guys, like the NID, I was hoping that the current President could take care of that. According to Hammond, he had put the word out that I was not to be touched by anyone. That and the fact that Kinsey was in the dog-house helped me feel a little bit safer. Not that I was planning to let my guard down any time soon. Nope, that was so not going to happen. This old dog had lived too long to suddenly trust in the idea of 'good will and peace to all' bit.

For one thing, Kinsey doesn't know how to play nice. That's something that just isn't part of his make-up. And just because the President had ordered everyone to keep their sticky paws off me didn't mean that anyone wouldn't get funny ideas. If I had anything to say about it, my future would not include time spent on a slice and dice table. Jack O'Neill was not planning to become a science project for some junior brain surgeon wannabe. As in nope, no way Jose, don't hold your breath because it ain't gonna happen.

From my bird's eye view, I could see that Carter had managed to keep the festive bunting from getting disintegrated by the wormhole and a podium had been set up on the ramp in front of the Stargate. According to protocol, the first row of seats were for the President, the Joint Chiefs and any other Generals that showed up. I was supposed to sit on the other side with my team, SG-1. Thor and Ernie had beamed their own special Asgard-type seats down with them and were up front with the President and the other Generals which was probably a very good diplomatic move on our part. Other aliens that were attending were Bratac and General Jacob Carter with his tame Tok'ra snake, Sel'mac. They would be sitting with me and the rest of SG-1.

For all our sakes, I really hoped that nothing went wrong with this thing. Right now the President and the Powers That Be were rooting for us, but I knew that could change in the space of a heart beat. Our program really needed all the support from the top echelons that we could get.

Before long, Dr. Weir and General Hammond had joined me in the eagle's nest. I guess I wasn't the only one who was nervous. About fifteen minutes before it was slated to begin, the control room flashed us the news that Air Force One had touched down at Peterson Air Force Base. It looked like this was actually going to happen.

General Hammond kept giving me these strange looks, so I knew that something was up, I just hadn't figured out what it was yet, and he wasn't telling. In fact, all my usually reliable sources had dried up when it came to getting the scoop on this story, so with great reluctance, I had decided that I would just have to suck it up and wait like everybody else. But, I had this feeling that I wasn't going to like it at all. Not one bit. Crap.

When Teal'c Daniel, and Sam…no, Carter, showed up at my side, I knew it was time for me to face the music and find my seat. General Hammond surprised me though, and asked all of us to stay put. No, he ordered us to stay, but in a nice voice. Crap, this was so not looking good. Didn't I have some leave coming to me? A trip up to my cabin was sounding real good right about now. At least he let my team members stay with me. I had the feeling I was going to need their support.

"Jack, the President said he wanted the chance to meet you and your team before the ceremony. He's on his way down now," explained the General. Luckily the head honcho an his entourage showed up at the door before I had the chance to do anything stupid. I'll give the guy credit, he just walked into the room and started talking. No big fanfare, no twenty-one gun salute, just a guy who happened to be the Big Kahuna of the most powerful nation on our planet. I could see why Hammond liked him. I threw my Commander in Chief a crisp salute.

"Attention in the room, the President of the United States," intoned General Hammond formally.

"Good afternoon, Mr. President," I said by way of greeting. It was echoed by my fellow team members. In fact, we all said it about the same time. Talk about a team being able to think alike. Yep, that was us, alright.

"At ease, gentlemen, ladies. I've been looking forward to meeting all of you. When they first told me about your program, I accused them of making it all up. My visit today is just another step in my realization that it's all frighteningly true. I suppose my first big clue was when Anubis showed up in the Oval Office. When I got the news that you'd kicked his ass, I made up my mind that I just had to meet all the people that made that possible. You know that there is just no damn way that we will be able to ever repay what all of you did the other day. And until the Stargate goes public, most of the people in this country won't have a clue about the heroes that work at this base. I did ask George for a chance to meet the SG-1 team members before the ceremony so that I could thank each one of you face to face." With that mouthful, the President reached forward to shake my hand.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, I've heard a lot of good things about you and I'm glad to finally have the chance to meet you," he smiled as we shook hands. His handshake was firm without making it into a who's stronger, he-man contest. You can tell a lot from a man's handshake and his told me that he was a good man to have on your six.

"Thank you, Mr. President. But I wouldn't believe everything you hear, Sir." Yep, I had done it, I had managed to wedge my foot firmly in my mouth within the first five minutes of meeting the Head Honcho. The room had a flock of Generals who were all giving me the evil eye, all except Hammond. He had a knowing grin on his face. I sneaked a look at my team members. Carter was smiling and looking at the floor, Teal'c's eyebrows looked like they were trying for an altitude record on his forehead and Daniel looked like he had swallowed a toad. Crap. 'O'Neill, you are toast. Maybe the announcement of your immediate retirement might be in order right about now.'

"Oh, I don't know, Jack, I have the feeling that I haven't heard half of what you've done. George seems to think you're a good man to have around. What do you have to say about that?" Damn, I was speechless 'Do I continue my role as a smart ass and insult my former boss, or be the good soldier?'

"I have a whole big honkin' bunch of respect for General Hammond, Mr. President. The SGC just isn't the same without him." Diplomatic, yeah, I could do that.

"Jack, I have other plans for George. So, in answer to your question, no, he's not coming back to command the SGC. I have someone else in mind for that. How would you like the job?" he asked with a smile.

Damn, I was speechless again, and would probably need to have my jaw wired shut from it hitting the floor so many times. Hammond looked as happy as a gopher in soft dirt. That sneaky son of a bitch knew about this all the time. Daniel had lost the toad and just looked very pleased. Teal'c actually had a grin on his face and looked like he wanted to say, 'Indeed.' Carter's smile was the incandescent kind that sent my stomach into nose dives and turned my knees into mush. Crap.

"Of course, that would mean that I would have to pin a star on your shoulder. You have a lot of people in your corner on this and I think you would do a great job. What about it Jack? Do you want the job?" 'Did I want it? Damn right I did. Better me than some other dickhead. Right?'

"Yes, Mr. President, I sure would!" I replied with a big grin. Before I knew it, he was shaking my hand again and General Hammond was patting me on the back.

"Congratulations, Jack. I couldn't think of a better man for the job," Hammond added. Then it was Carter's turn to salute me.

"Congratulations, Sir," she said proudly as she gave me another one of those big smiles of hers. Then Danny was patting me on the back and looked like he wanted to give me a hug. Crap.

"Come here, Daniel, let's get it over with," I urged as I gave him a big, manly, bear-hug.

"I am most pleased for you General O'Neill," added my Jaffa friend, Teal'c, as we clasped forearms. 'Damn, he'd called me a General. Holy shit! I'd been promoted. So that's who Hammond had been talking about when he told me a General was taking over as the new CO. Did I mention that he was a sneaky son of a bitch?' As for me, my smile was so wide that the muscles in my face were beginning to hurt because I knew I could do this. Life was good.

"I thought it would be a good idea to pop the question in private just in case you decided to tell us to go to hell, Jack," explained General Hammond.

"Thank you, Sir, but did you really think I could turn a sweet offer like this down? If I didn't take it, I would just have to break in a new CO and I couldn't take the chance of some dickhead taking your place. Could I?" I asked innocently.

"Gentlemen, I think we have a ceremony that's due to start. Shall we adjourn to the Gateroom?" interposed President Hayes smoothly. I sneaked a glance out the window and I could see that the natives were getting restless. In the Gateroom below, several heads could be seen watching all the excitement obviously emanating from the room. So, we all trooped down the stairs to take out seats with Hammond and the President holding back behind the open blast doors. After we were all in place, General Hammond's command-voice sounded out.

"Attention in the room. The President of the United States." No music was playing, but I could hear the sound of "Hail to the Chief" in my head. They probably hadn't been able to find musicians with a high enough security clearance to play it. And the "SGC All-Kazoo Band" just wouldn't have cut it. Not this time. The entire room snapped to attention as the President of the United States walked in and took his place behind the podium. Silence fell upon the room as we all waited to hear what he was going to say.

I'll have to admit that my mind wasn't entirely on what he was saying as I was trying to get my mind wrapped around the idea that I was going to be the new CO of the SGC. General Jack O'Neill. Damn, who would've thunk it? Not me, that's for damn sure. All the enemies in high places that I had made seemed to automatically preclude that. Despite all that, here I was. Right in the center of attention. They'd probably insist on a speech. Gulp. Crap. 'Oops, better pay attention, Jack, your big boss is speaking.'

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, members of the Joint Chief's, and personnel of Stargate Command. My visit here today has several purposes. Firstly, I am here today to offer my congratulations to all of you for a job well done. The battle for the safety of our planet was fought recently and I know that some of your friends and colleagues did not come back home afterwards. Unfortunately, until this program is made public, the families and loved ones of those who fell will not know of the heroism displayed by those who were killed in the line of duty. It is left to those of you who have been left behind to carry on to ensure that their sacrifice was not made in vain. Let us offer a moment of silence for those who fell in that battle." The moment seemed to stretch on into eternity. As for myself, I was remembering old friends who were longer with us. Friends like Kawalski, and Fraiser, to name just a few.

"However, this is not the only reason I came here today. Some of you may have heard that I have offered a new assignment to Dr. Elizabeth Weir. This leaves Stargate Command without a Commander. George, would you like to do the honors?"

"I reckon I would, Mr. President," he answered as he stood and strode up to take his place behind the podium. Crap, this was it. Murmurs of speculation were rising above the crowd. I sneaked a peak at Thor. He looked inscrutable, as usual, but Ernie was bouncing in his seat. 'Those short, flat-assed skinny, gray aliens were in on it too! Damn. Was there anyone here that didn't already know? From the shit-eating grin on Jacob's face, he knew about it too. Crap.'

"Colonel Jonathon O'Neill, would you step forward?" As if in a dream, I felt my body moving until I stood at attention next to General Hammond.

"Attention to orders. The President of the United States, the Congress of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and the Joint Chief's of Staff, have reposed special trust and confidence in the valor, fidelity, and professional excellence displayed by Jonathon O'Neill. In view of his meritorious service record and his demonstrated qualities of leadership, the promotion of Jonathan O'Neill to the rank of Brigadier General has been approved and ratified. Stargate Command, I give you your new commander, General Jack O'Neill. Congratulations, Jack," he added. Then he was at my side pinning on one of my stars while Hammond was pinning on the other one. Thankfully, I was able to keep the grin off my face until after my handshake with the President. I took a deep breath. 'Whew, I'd made it.' I turned to leave, but was stopped before I made the first step.

"Wait a minute, Jack, we aren't finished with you yet," commanded President Hayes. This wasn't looking good, I was so not a happy camper. Oh well, might as well get this crap over with so I could get on to more important things like taking over as the new CO. Those poor slobs sitting down there would never know what hit 'em. The President had the podium again.

"Attention to orders. This is to certify that the Congress of the United States, by a unanimous vote, has awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to General Jonathon O'Neill for outstanding meritorious service far beyond the call of duty during the battle to defend Earth. While serving as commander of SG-1 at Stargate Command, he repeatedly placed his own life above that of his fellows in order to gain the information needed to defeat the threat against Earth. Because of his willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice and his outstanding acts of valor and courage, this enemy was defeated and numerous lives saved. This medal is given on the behalf of a grateful nation by my hand, President Henry Hayes."

Then the President was standing in front of me and placing that sky-blue ribbon with its sprinkling of white stars around my neck. 'Oh. My. God.' I think I had tears in my eyes. Blinking them rapidly away, I watched the President's arm go up in a salute to me, so I returned it. The entire room erupted with cheers, clapping, and calls for a speech. Without really knowing how I had gotten there, I found myself behind the podium, facing the members of the SGC and my alien friends from other worlds. 'Crap. Just what the hell was I supposed to say now?' I waited until all the cheering and clapping died down a little before nervously clearing my throat.

"Mr. President, distinguished guests, Joint Chief's of Staff and personnel of Stargate Command. You know, when I tried to make a speech for Major Carter's promotion, I never got to finish it. Since Thor is sitting right here in front of me, maybe I'll manage to finish this time. How about it, Thor? Will you let me finish this time, for crying out loud?" Knowing chuckles from those of us that had been there so many years ago were heard throughout the crowd. Thor just nodded his head and looked dignified.

"Of course, General O'Neill, you may proceed."

"Thanks, Thor. Mr. President, I would like to thank you for this award, but I'm afraid I can't accept it." Several gasps of surprise and disagreement sounded from the crowd at this announcement, but I just held up my hands. I still wasn't finished.

"I can't accept this award for what I did, because I was just doing my job. And I know for a fact that anyone else serving in Stargate Command would've done the same thing if it had have been asked of them. So, I won't accept it for the things I did, but I will accept it on behalf of all of the people who didn't come back home to us and for all of you here today. I have the feeling that some of our dear friends and colleagues who died in the defense of our planet, like Janet Fraiser, are still with us and are watching over us right now. Somehow, I know that Janet wishes she could have said good bye to us all before her death, but was gone too quickly to do that. Such a good person had to end up in the good place and I'll bet she still loves us as much now as she ever did in life." I had to wait a moment before continuing as the emotions of the moment clogged my throat.

"People, words can never express the admiration and respect I have felt for all of you that have served alongside me these past eight years. Ever since we first walked through that Gate on our first mission to Abydos, I've been treated to one hell of a ride. This medal's for you, kids."

'Wow! Will wonders never cease? I'd actually made it through that one and they all seemed to like what I'd said.' Everyone was on their feet clapping and cheering. All I could do was grin back at them. As I watched all those people celebrating our narrow escape from yet another crisis, I couldn't help but remember back to the past eight years. Images of friends who'd paid the ultimate price of death flashed though my mind. Good and noble people like Fraiser, Kawalski, Boyd, Cromwell, and Rothman had all done their part to make this day and this victory possible. I knew that they were present with us in this room and that they approved of the words I had just spoken. Yeah, maybe I was a walking Encyclopedia of the Ancients, but I was still Jack O'Neill. No one could take that away from me. I just knew that we were ALL going to be all right. Janet and Charlie had told me so.

The End


End file.
